Created by Case Western Reserve University… HoloAnatomy is an [XR] training solution. The immersive training suite gives students 3D perspectives of every part of the body, allowing them to interact with engaging simulations and virtual cadavers with mixed reality and [XR] headsets. The HoloAnatomy offering comes with access to a comprehensive pre-built asset library of over 8000 resources for building presentations and training sessions. Users can select and label every part of the human anatomy within the platform and leverage multi-user interactive sessions with built-in collaborative tools.

The completion of AlensiaXR’s Series A funding round signifies a pivotal advancement in the realm of medical education. Through HoloAnatomy® software, AlensiaXR is not just revolutionizing anatomical studies with its cutting-edge holographic technology but is also setting a new benchmark for educational methodologies worldwide. The platform’s ability to double the speed of learning while improving retention rates offers a glimpse into the future of medical training. Furthermore, the substantial savings on traditional cadaver labs highlight the economic efficiency and sustainability of this innovative approach.

“The Series A funding will be used to enhance HoloAnatomy capabilities and advance development efforts to include any field that requires a fundamental understanding of human anatomy, such as dentistry, physiology and pathology,” AlensiaXR CEO Mark Day said. “We are actively engaging our growing customer base to guide the evolution of this pioneering learning platform and will seek to expand into additional applications and global markets.”

Those could include opportunities outside of traditional institutions of higher education. “With the rapid growth in the academic market, we’ve started to see interest in government and commercial markets,” Day said. “We see no limit to the upside of the potential of this extraordinary, immersive learning platform."

The funds will assist in the development of the company’s flagship HoloAnatomy learning platform, developed by Case Western Reserve University (CWRU). AlensiaXR was spun out of CWRU to accelerate the development and deployment of HoloAnatomy to academic institutions around the world. Other investors include Sopris Capital, Healthcare Collaboration Fund, JumpStart Ventures, University Hospitals Ventures and the JobsOhio Growth Capital Fund.

Physical cadaver labs are expensive to run. There are biohazards, and it’s costly to create a lab that’s up to modern environmental regulations. There are other compelling reasons not to use physical cadavers, including the fact that it’s difficult to see anatomy like lymph nodes, certain blood vessels, and the pancreas on a physical cadaver. These were the primary motivations for Case Western’s integration of HoloAnatomy into its anatomy program. Students use virtual reality headsets that project 3D models of either the male or female body—according to studies, this has been a relative success.

HoloAnatomy® Learning Platform has been integrated into curriculum of the Practical Nursing diploma and several other programs in Sheridan’s Faculty of Applied Health and Community Studies. HoloAnatomy’s 3D mixed reality software uses holographic imagery to display structures and systems in the body — including difficult-to-see anatomy such as the diaphragm, nervous and circulatory systems — to better support students in challenging courses such as anatomy and physiology. In addition to engaging learners through the ability to move, collaborate and interact with each other, HoloAnatomy provides a more sustainable alternative to the use of cadavers, which are extremely costly to house and preserve.

Case Western Reserve University (CWRU) today announced it has won the 2023 Microsoft Mixed Reality Partner of the Year Award. CWRU and licensing partner AlensiaXR were honored among a global field for demonstrating excellence in innovation and implementation of customer-solutions based on Microsoft technology.

“From the first moment we saw HoloLens, we knew mixed reality would be a transformational education tool, and we welcome this acknowledgement of the hard work our team put into envisioning, developing and deploying the HoloAnatomy® Software Suite,” said Mark Griswold, professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine.

Former NFL player Josh Cribbs and his hilarious wife share the wonders of the HoloAnatomy® learning platform on their show, "Cribbs in the CLE!"

Saint Joseph Academy is the first high school in the nation to utilize the HoloAnatomy Software suite. Anatomy lessons have taken on a new dimension. “We want to give them the best tools available​,” said Saint Joseph Academy President Katheyn Purcell.

“It definitely makes it a lot easier to understand [anatomy] — and it's more fun as well,” said junior Elizabeth Krotine. “You get to interact with your classmates and discuss what you're seeing.”

Students learning anatomy by looking at a hologram sounds like something from a university in the far future. But that’s how it’s done right now at Case Western Reserve University.

When CWRU developed the 3D HoloAnatomy® Software Suite of medical education software several years ago to teach anatomy without the use of cadavers, it soon learned there was an appetite for this technological advancement at universities around the world. But universities are not as nimble as business startups. So CWRU created the company AlensiaXR to market its HoloAnatomy software. “(Universities) are built to teach and learn,” said AlensiaXR CEO Mark Day. “You need a private sector organization to be able to (advance a new technology) as a business.”

In the future, AlensiaXR plans to expand the HoloAnatomy software to other medical academic subjects, such as physiology.

Using HoloLens, CWRU’s Interactive Commons developed HoloAnatomy Software Suite​… ​A​nd results were promising.​ ​In a study published in Medical Science Educator in November 2019, students were shown to grasp concepts twice as fast using HoloAnatomy as they would with 2D models.

“We took one of the oldest classes that you can imagine, human anatomy, and in a period of about five years, we went from hundreds of years of history to teaching in this new way,” Griswold says.

In the time since, 17 schools, including one as far as Poland as well as the United Kingdom’s esteemed Oxford University, have adopted curriculums featuring the HoloAnatomy Software Suite.

“We’ve been given this opportunity to lead the world in this area. As a region, we can adopt this as our future,” Griswold says. “We should be amazingly proud as a city.”

Nancy Farrow, senior VP of marketing for AlensiaXR, a company formed to market and sell CWRU’s invention, explained that the HoloAnatomy platform can visualize complex anatomical structures and systems, allowing students to freely move in and out of holograms for more collaborative anatomy lessons.

“You simply put on a HoloLens headset, and a human body appears in three dimensions — the anchored hologram is like magic, empowering students and teachers to literally immerse themselves in the body’s systems through mixed-reality technology,” she wrote. “It’s a new realm of dynamic, collaborative education that helps students learn faster and retain more vital information. What’s remarkable is that you can all be in the same room, making eye contact as you explore the 3D body together, or engage virtually from anywhere in the world.”

Farrow said HoloAnatomy’s software has been on the market for three years and is now in use at more than 20 institutions worldwide. She said the company also recently released the HoloAnatomy Neuro Software Suite, an interactive 3D tool that uses mixed reality to visualize the brain and neural activity.

“AlensiaXR plans to enhance the HoloAnatomy Software Suite with additional anatomical content and develop new applications based on customer recommendations and our partners at Case Western Reserve University,” she wrote. “The response thus far has been remarkable, as academic institutions realize they can teach human anatomy without cadavers with our innovative mixed reality software.”

After years of developing and improving upon a new way to teach human anatomy with holographic imagery, Case Western Reserve University has announced the launch of a startup, AlensiaXR Inc., to scale its product learning platform, the HoloAnatomy Software Suite.​ ​HoloAnatomy, which uses mixed-reality technology to illuminate the human​ ​body in three dimensions through HoloLens, was developed by programmers​ ​and 3D artists at the Interactive Commons, along with CWRU anatomy​ ​faculty. More than 370 CWRU medical students already are using the​ ​technology.

The HoloAnatomy Software Suite also is licensed to a growing network of​ ​institutions, with more than 18 organizations using the platform to attract​ ​students, interest donors, save budgets and provide a more intuitive,​ ​engaging, effective educational experience.

One new startup, called AlensiaXR, was recently developed out of Case Western Reserve University's School of Medicine. The university developed pioneering HoloAnatomy software that helps teach students about human anatomy, without the cadavers, by using holographic imagery. AlensiaXR aims to bring this mixed reality learning technique to students around the world.

Students in the XR medical labs learned just as well or better than in traditional dissection labs. The university also found that medical students learned twice as fast, allowing them to have extra time to incorporate different modalities, such as living anatomy and radiology. “That’s how we prepare our future doctors.”

Virtual learning is democratizing what has been an elite understanding of the human body.

“My intention is to really take this to any class. This is a way online learning or remote learning should really happen. We want them interacting.”

   —Case Western Reserve University CIO Sue Workman

“By making medical education more interactive and engaging, the medical field could become more accessible and attractive to those who previously might have been put off by traditional medical learning.”