Huge acclaim for student's work

The veterans have completed the Dundee University programme

A 31-year-old Dundee student has been nominated in an annual awards programme celebrating outstanding British achievements over the past year.

John McGhee, a PhD student and graphic artist at the University of Dundee, has been nominated as a Morgan Stanley Great Briton of 2007.

Mr McGhee has been nominated in the Science and Innovation category.

He has developed a series of animation tools which show anatomical images in an accessible way.

He said: "I was totally surprised when I found out about this as I'm not even sure how the nomination has come about but it is a real honour especially when you see some of the names who have been nominated and won in the past.

"It's great when your work starts getting this kind of attention.

"I am working in an area where I feel there is great potential to develop new ideas but it is still fairly early days in bringing these to fulfilment. But getting this kind of exposure can only help."

The images could be used to improve patient disease understanding and enhance medical training.

His work has attracted international attention both from clinicians and from the art world while initial trials with patients in Dundee have provided encouraging results.

Previous winners in the Science and Innovation category include Sir Tim Berners-Lee, inventor of the internet, and Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, who developed DNA fingerprinting and profiling.