Meducase is a novel e-learning project in Medicine with the goal to connect medical information of relevant clinical cases with up-to-date medical multimedia content. The nucleus of the project is located at the “Charité” Medical School of the Humboldt-University Berlin, one of the largest and best-known Medical Schools in Germany. It is carried out in cooperation with seven German Universities and is funded by approx. 2.5 Mio. € for three years by the German Secretary of Research (”BMBF”). Meducase is aimed to be utilized as potent multimedia-tool in Medical School as well as in self-teaching for medical students, and in related areas such as nursing. While simulating the generation of patient´s history, examination and therapy of selected teaching cases in the “hospital level” the user can always directly connect these data with structured medical content stored in the “auditorium level”. This unique connectivity is brought about by implementing a powerful thesaurus developed at the NIH, USA termed “uniformed medical language standard (UMLS)” and powerful structured data-bases. The unique connection of complex content and case-based informations allows for an unrestricted self-directed and problem-based learning scenario that will enable the student to learn faster and more efficiently. At the same time the option for a structured learning approach including different self-examination strategies is given with multimedia medical content being connected to the relevant clinical cases. The project is carried out in close cooperation with the highly acclaimed “Reformstudiengang Berlin”, the first reformed medical curriculum at a public Medical School in Germany strongly focussing on novel didactic strategies such as problem-based learning. It furthermore includes simulation projects including a high-tech life-size computer-based medical simulation doll, real-time video dialogue projects, and the utilization of trained simulation patients. A first running version of Meducase is anticipated in late 2002. If you want further information about the project, let us know.