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Nature Medicine 15, 476 - 479 (2009)
doi:10.1038/nm0509-476

Breakthroughs Within Reach

Stu Hutson1

  1. Stu Hutson is a science writer based in Gainesville, Florida.


Basic laboratory procedures can present physical challenges for biomedical researchers with disabilities. But a cadre of innovators has come up with technological solutions that make the laboratory bench more accessible to scientists with impaired sight or movement. Stu Hutson reports on how these adaptive research tools help people with disabilities by using everything from computer screen readers to security lasers.


The first cadaver dissection of a gross anatomy course typically presents a challenge. This was especially true for Robert Babcock, a man determined to learn the ins and outs of human biology—by touch.