Two Orange Coast College biology professors, Ann Tonn Harmer and Sharon Callaway Daniel, have been given a cash award from the Human Anatomy and Physiology Society.

The $750 award will be used to assist honors students in their work sectioning and preserving a human body in the college plastination laboratory.

Plastination is the process of permanently preserving specimens by dehydrating them and injecting them with silicone. The process creates a dry, lightweight specimen free of formaldehyde and odors.

Built two years ago, and primarily funded with a grant by the George Hoag Family Foundation, Orange Coast's lab is the largest in the nation.

Students are currently sectioning and plastinating the thorax of a human body. It will be used next fall in cross-sectional anatomy, human anatomy and radiologic technology classes.

Harmer, Daniel and their students are also working on a joint project with the California Museum of Science and Industry in Los Angeles. The college will plastinate a 42-pound elephant heart as part of an exhibit that will compare hearts from a variety of different species.