Welcome to the Cell Structure & Function (CSF) Independent Study Component of Anatomy 710
The purpose of this website is to provide images of normal cells, tissues and organs that complement images presented on the Learn@UW Anatomy 710 website. (https://learnuw.wisc.edu/) There, you will find powerpoint files, pdfs, quizzes and small group exercises. Since diagnosis of disease at the microscopic level requires a detailed understanding of healthy cell structure and function, the goal of Anatomy 710 is to help you develop the image analysis skills needed to interpret images of abnormal cells and organs in Pathology.
This site is intended to be a self-directed learning opportunity to assist you in learning the material in each block. Working in groups of 3 or 4 and quizzing each other on what is in each image will not only help you prepare for quizzes and exams but will also help you learn the material beyond simply memorizing it.
Quizzes and exams will contain images you have not seen previously in this course, so please do not spend time memorizing images. Instead, focus on identifying cells or cell organelles and multicellular structures, such as epithelia, nerves, connective tissue and muscle, which make up all of the organs in the body.
Use histological stains to aid your identification of individual cell types, but do not memorize colors or depend on them for structural identification. Many types of stains are used in histological preparations, so expecting cells to be certain colors can be misleading.
Most students find the analysis of microscopic images challenging at first. But with practice, just as you learn the facial features of new friends in your class, your mind will start to pick out the patterns and structures that are common in most tissue sections,such as blood vessels, cell densities and arrangement and quantity of extracellular material.
Course specifics
All information about the teaching staff, topics covered, learning objectives, quizzes and exams can be found in the course module, which is on the course website at Learn@UW and is password protected. You are welcome to print the module for your personal use only, but many students will use it only online.
Please read Resources and Instructions before doing any exercises. Please watch the introductory videos at http://videos.med.wisc.edu/events/140 before each exercise.