Most visitors barely notice the sign that hangs behind two human bodies -- stripped of skin and posed acrobatically -- in a corner of the Body Worlds exhibition. But Vanessa Bello, 27, pauses when she sees the sign, "Body Donation for Plastination." Bello recently registered to donate her body to the Institute for Plastination in hopes of one day joining the traveling exhibit, now at The Leonardo in Salt Lake City. The exhibit, which has attracted more than 100,000 visitors in Utah, consists of rooms full of preserved human bodies and body parts in glass cases displayed to educate visitors.

"Once I went to the exhibit, I knew I had to be a part of it," said Bello, a Salt Lake City native. "The bodies have to come from somewhere."

Bello is one of three Utahns who have volunteered to donate their bodies to the institute, which was established by the exhibit's creator, said Lisa Davis, Leonardo spokeswoman. Overall, more than 9,000 people worldwide have registered with the institute to make the ultimate donation.

Bello said she knew she wanted to donate her body after her boyfriend took her to see Body Worlds in Denver in 2006 as a present for her 25th birthday.

"I think it's given [people] a greater appreciation of how to take care of their bodies and what an amazing machine it really is," Bello said.

After Bello dies, her body will be preserved through a process called plastination during which bodies are embalmed, bathed in acetone to remove fluids and fats, then filled with polymers.

The idea of being dissected, preserved and displayed after death for millions to see might make some people squeamish. But not Bello, who deals with death daily.

The Salt Lake Community College student works as an autopsy technician for the state medical examiner's office, a recovery technician for Intermountain Donor Services and is a certified paramedic.

Her long black hair brushes against a tattoo on her upper right arm, which says "Mortui Vivos Docent," a Latin phrase that means "The dead teach the living." Another tattoo on her shoulder is of a posed Body World body, or plastinate. She wore a T-shirt Monday adorned with a drawing of a posed body by Bernhard Siegfried Albinus, an 18th century anatomist.

"When you're dead, you're dead," Bello said. "You're no longer a person. You're just a cavity."

Bello, however, does not consider herself a morbid person. Instead, she sees death as a part of life and considers it an opportunity to teach others about health and anatomy, which have always fascinated her.

As a child, Bello said she often got stomach aches and wondered what they looked like from the inside. As an adult, Bello hopes to earn a degree in medical laboratory sciences and become a pathologist's assistant.

Bello could have decided to donate her body in a more traditional way. The University of Utah's Body Donor Program, for example, receives more than 100 bodies a year, said Kerry Peterson, manager of the program. Those bodies, however are used strictly for research and education. They're not posed nor put on display for ticket-buying audiences.

Or she could have chosen to be buried in her family's plot.

But Bello wanted to do something different.

"I think this is beneficial to the lay person," Bello said. "[Before] only doctors and those who were medically trained were allowed to see the anatomy of the body. Now, the world has an opportunity to see that. What better gift is there?"

She said her mother is excited about her choice to donate her body to the institute while others in her family still aren't sure what to think. She hopes they'll warm to the idea over time.

Bello said she's still considering how she might like to be posed. Georgina Gomez, manager for the institute's body donation program in North America, said donors are allowed to give suggestions which are taken into consideration, but the institute makes no promises.

Not all plastinated bodies are put on display. Many are sent to educational programs. Either way, Bello said she'll be happy.

"I'm not afraid of death at all," Bello said. "I don't want to die. I think that life is a great adventure. But death is an adventure, too."