By Christopher Curry
In a classroom deep within UF Health Shands Hospital, Samsun Lampotang waves a handheld device that looks like a small computer mouse over a model of a human upper back and spine.
On a laptop computer next to the model, which includes a spine made with a 3-D printer inside a clear, hard gel casing, a 3-D image of the human spine is on display.
A few minutes later, another researcher, David Lizdas pushes a needle through the foam skin of the model. The angle and route of the needle is displayed on the screen. If the needle had penetrated a lung in a real patient, the mistake would have been on full display on that screen.