撸先生

As a child, Laurie Williams-Hogarth was fascinated by the science of the human body.
The daughter and granddaughter of physicians, she spent much of her time around hospitals.
If she tripped and skinned her knee, her father wouldn鈥檛 just give her a Band-Aid; he鈥檇 explain
in technical terms what happened to her skin and how her body would heal itself.

Now a 撸先生 biology professor, she teaches an upper-level neuroscience course, the first part
of which involves the anatomy and functioning of the brain. In a lab in the Science Complex,
she is surrounded by plastic models of everything from heads to toes, but she remains most fascinated by the least-understood part of the human body.

鈥淚鈥檓 a neuroscientist, so I鈥檓 most interested in the brain,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t is the command center of the entire body. And the fact that we can imagine scenery and recall and create memories really only [because of] chemicals and proteins that reside in specific, tiny cells of the brain, to me, is truly amazing.鈥�

The models in her classroom are painstakingly created by medical illustrators, so their price tag is steep. A model brain like the one pictured above, which can be dissected, can cost around $1,250.

鈥淭hese are about as close to it gets to a human brain,鈥� she says. 鈥淚t weighs about one or two pounds. The actual brain has a covering with fluid around it, so it鈥檚 going to be a little
bit heavier than that.鈥�

Students, she says, can be intimidated when they first walk into the lab. Plastic skeletons, skulls, arms, knees鈥攂asically every body part鈥攍ine the shelves.

鈥淭he ones who get it鈥攖hat you鈥檝e got to come in, you鈥檝e got to look at the models, you鈥檝e got to touch them and relate them to your own anatomy鈥攖hose students are the ones who usually do the best.鈥�