Scientists from China, the United States and the Republic of Korea (ROK) signed a contract in Chongqing Monday to work together on developing a digitized visible human technology at an on-going symposium on the subject.
More than 140 leading scientists from the three countries reported at the symposium the achievements in their work on the visible human database and discussed ways on how to achieve international cooperation.
The three-dimensional digitized human body will help increase the accuracy of human imaging technology and provide reference data for disease diagnosis, and the development of new medicines and surgical techniques. It will have a wide application in such industries as aviation, automobiles, mechanical and electrical manufacturing, film and TV production and other human anatomy-related fields as physical education.
China is officially the third country so far with its own visible human database. Professor V.M. Spitzer of the University of Colorado in the United States was the first in the world to devise the visible human database in 1994 and a team led by Doctor M.S. Chung at the Asian University in the ROK became the second in 2001.
Chinese Professor Zhang Shaoxiang and his research group with the Chongqing-based Third Military Medical University succeeded in completing China's own visible human database in October 2002 after three years of assiduous and conscientious efforts.
(Xinhua News Agency January 21, 2003)
