The clinical skills laboratory at the College of Veterinary Medicine was just a storage room a few months ago.

The surgical practice facility is now a hyper-modern home made of special effects silicone for a variety of animals.

The lab is expected to greatly improve veterinary students’ preparedness for performing surgery after graduation.

“Most of the bigger vet schools around the world are going toward a clinical skills lab because you can add a lot of practice with very little risk,” said Dr. Stephanie Caston, associate professor and section leader in equine surgery in veterinary medicine.

Caston helped write the grant that got the clinical skills lab started, along with her colleagues Dr. Jennifer Schleining, associate professor in vet diagnostic & production animal medicine, and Dr. Dean Riedesel, professor in veterinary clinical sciences.

“I’m excited to see this happen because the plan has been floating around for quite some time,” said Lisa Nolan, dean of veterinary medicine administration. “It provides an opportunity that not many schools can [match] … that makes us attractive to people from all over the country and the world.”

The lab is open to undergraduate and graduate students whenever they wish to practice, and equipment and staff are expected to grow as the lab becomes more incorporated into students’ classwork. Dr. Frank Cerfogli, currently teaching at the DMACC technical lab, will start as the ISU clinical lab’s director in December.

In the lab, Caston explained how the current models work, most of them in multiple ways.

“[Students] can take this dog leg and practice taking blood six times in a row,” Caston said, setting a model on the table.

A two-foot silicone leg protruded from the white semicircle base, which secured itself to the table with a magnetic clack. Aside from the fact that Caston could pull back the synthetic skin layer to show a replaceable plastic faux vein, the model seemed like a disembodied limb from a chocolate lab. It even had four little toe pads on the paw.

“With this, they can get the feel and muscle memory, whereas you could never do that with a live animal,” Caston said.

Other models in the room include a life-sized cow and calf to help students practice assisting a birth, pads of silicone to practice stitching, artificial bones for drilling and securing medical plates and many technological simulations. Wearable cameras will also be used to film students’ work so they can submit recordings for grading.

Jennifer Ruff, sophomore in veterinary medicine, said the clinic provides students a chance to perfect more skills and get more individualized experience than traditional classrooms.

“It definitely makes sure that there’s not someone who slips through the cracks, or who thinks they’re doing something right to find out later that they weren’t.” Ruff said.

Elizabeth Nielsen, sophomore in veterinary medicine, and Ruff serve as student organizers for the lab. Based on the models she’s personally used, Ruff said they’re good for getting the feel of a tactic but their reality has limits. For example, the birthing model doesn’t include blood, and the model can’t show the stress of an actual cow in labor.

“We have a lot of great models already, there’s definitely always new things coming out and we want to have a good variety,” Ruff said.

Caston agreed that the models have limits, but said working with them will provide students a less stressful way to practice basic surgical procedures.