Anatomy has been one of the foundations of scientific research and is an essential basis for relating structure and function. It has been perceived as being rather out-dated, but to really understand the impact of the human genome project, anatomy remains a primary analytical research tool. One of the most exciting challenges for the anatomical sciences in recent years has been to show the relevance that anatomy has to both modern day research and teaching.

Some of the really exciting anatomical research going on at the moment is trying to understand

• how the normal structure and function of organs, tissues and cells are related to their diseased or damaged state,
• how normal development occurs, to allow us to begin to understand how and why developmental abnormalities arise and
• how important evolutionary transitions, which have had an impact on human structure and function, have occurred.