The Melbourne Femur Research Collection: from forensic anthropology to multi-disciplinary research collection of international significance

Now an internationally recognised research collection, the Melbourne Femur Research Collection (MFRC) was initiated in the early 1990s to answer questions about determining age using microscopic features of cortical bone. The research focus for the collection has now expanded to include the search for answers in the fields of osteoporosis and bone ageing research, bio-engineering and bio-anthropology. This presentation tells the story of an amazing research collection and how it came to be. Dr Rita Hardiman is a researcher into, and co-curator of the Melbourne Femur Research Collection. Her doctoral thesis, titled “Age Changes and Sex Differences in the Femoral Midshaft Cortex” was completed by studying midshaft femoral blocks in the MFRC. She lectures in human anatomy at the Melbourne Dental School.