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Approved and verified accurate by the Associate Dean of the College of Natural Sciences on July 29, 2025.
Content Warning: Detailed descriptions of cadavers are included in this blog.
A cadaver lab is a specialized laboratory dedicated to the dissection and anatomical study of deceased human bodies. Typically found within medical schools and specialized research facilities, these labs enable students to practice dissecting human tissue and identifying anatomical parts and bodily systems. It provides an immersive educational experience for students who plan to enter the medical field.
Grand Canyon University offers a multitude of opportunities for our pre-medicine students. Typically, you would find cadaver labs at medical schools. However, GCU offers this advanced lab experience to our undergraduate biology students.
If you’re thinking of enrolling in a biology program at GCU, you may have some questions about the dissection lab experience. What is a cadaver lab’s purpose? What can I expect from the undergraduate experience in a human cadaver lab?
This guide to cadaver labs, with a focus on the lab at GCU’s campus in Phoenix, can help you become familiar with the concept and what you can expect from the experience.
At GCU, every part removed from the cadaver (such as the skin, adipose tissue and so on) goes into a labeled biohazard bag. This bag is then stored while the dissected cadaver is used to teach.
Students gain hands-on experience as they:
Freshman or sophomore biology students at GCU are taught using cadavers when taking their anatomy lab. The anatomy lab is a hands-on experience, as students are expected to learn a multitude of anatomical structures.
By the time a student is finished with their full course of anatomy curriculum, they should be able to identify muscles, organs and other structures on the cadaver. In fact, the lab exams actually involve identifying structures on the cadaver without a word bank.
GCU usually has between 15-20 cadavers on campus. There are three anatomy labs with two to three cadavers in each. There is a maximum of 24 students in each anatomy lab class, which helps ensure that students get to spend ample time with the cadavers.
This type of lab is dedicated to the dissection, study and research of cadavers. What is a cadaver, exactly? It’s a term used for deceased human bodies that are used for studying anatomy, analyzing pathologies and practicing medical procedures.
Where do the cadavers come from? Before an individual passes away, they can enroll in a donor program to give their body to science. Oftentimes, their funeral costs are funded, and the family does not need to worry about anything postmortem. Some individuals decide to will their bodies to specific research or medical programs.
If you aspire to become a medical professional and would like to experience immersive educational experiences in the human dissection lab, you might consider applying to the Bachelor of Science in Biology with an Emphasis in Pre-Medicine program at GCU. The blend of didactic coursework and hands-on experiential teaching components provides an academically rich environment for our students. You’ll also explore advanced topics in pharmacology, pathophysiology, genetics and biochemistry.
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GCU students can benefit from having a hands-on experience in both their teaching lab and in their human dissection lab. Typically, aspiring doctors do not begin working in a human cadaver lab until they are in medical school.
The cadaver dissection lab is one of GCU's many Lopes Live Labs. There are multiple advantages to starting work in human dissection at the cadaver lab, including the following:
Working in the human anatomy lab allows students to take what they’ve been taught in classes and apply it to an immersive, hands-on environment. In a class, you’ll have opportunities to examine the circulatory system with diagrams and medical illustrations, for example. Then, in the anatomy lab, you’ll be able to actually see the structures of the circulatory system and consider how it works within the human body.
Lab work provides invaluable aid in helping students become more accustomed to standard clinical procedures. In the human anatomy lab, students are required to follow strict safety protocols, including using personal protective equipment (PPE) like gloves, following proper hand-washing procedures and disinfecting all equipment and surfaces when finished with the dissection. The more students practice these procedures, the more likely they may be to adhere to them properly.
Some students who enroll in a pre-medicine program may have hopes of pursuing a career as a surgeon. For these students in particular, the human anatomy lab provides essential experience.
During a surgeon’s career, they are required to cut into the human body countless times. It’s necessary to first do so on a human cadaver rather than a living person. When working on a human cadaver, making a mistake is an opportunity for learning, whereas mistakes made on a living human could be harmful or even deadly.
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There is one cadaver placed in the Human Anatomy Workshop (HAWS) lab, which is where prospective students from high schools and community colleges have the opportunity to take a tour. In the HAWS lab, high school students are able to benefit from an immersive educational experience with the cadaver and the various organs extracted from them. The remaining cadavers are found in the dissection lab being worked on.
Dedicated students can apply to join the Mastering Anatomy Program, known around campus as MAP. By the time a MAP student graduates, they will have dissected a whole cadaver, including both upper and lower extremities, thoracic and abdominal cavity and head and neck.
MAP participants take tests similar to the level of medical school and board exams in order to progress through the program. MAP students may engage in special projects, such as publishing a GCU Anatomy Atlas for anatomy students to use. Not only is this helpful for future students, but the MAP individuals will get to discuss their potentially published work on graduate school applications.
As a Christian university, GCU emphasizes human dignity and the value of every human life. Our instructors and students treat each cadaver with the utmost respect. Our students are welcome to pray in spiritual preparation prior to working on their cadaver.
