{"id":1724,"date":"2026-07-13T10:35:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:35:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/?p=1724"},"modified":"2026-07-13T10:39:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-13T17:39:40","slug":"mri-and-augmented-reality-for-better-back-pain-surgery-wins-at-research-expo-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/?p=1724","title":{"rendered":"MRI and Augmented Reality for Better Back Pain Surgery Wins at Research Expo 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

[link to article]<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
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Winner’s of this year’s Research Expo pose with Dean Albert P. Pisano. From left: top row: Can Uysalel, Songyuan Lu, Seth Farrell, Tara Porter, Mingyue Zhang, Baicheng Chen, bottom row: Tanya Kumar, Lubna Amer, Dean Albert P. Pisano and Deepta Bharadwaj.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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April 21, 2026<\/span><\/div>\n
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Mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Songyuan Lu won the grand prize at this year\u2019s Research Expo, where more than 150 students presented their research posters across the six departments at the UC San Diego Jacobs School of Engineering. Lu\u2019s work focuses on computer-assisted surgery using MRI and augmented reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

During the event, more than 100 judges from industry, many of them alumni or members of the Jacobs School\u2019s Corporate Affiliates Program, assessed the rigor of students\u2019 research and their ability to explain the work. Each year, judges choose six best poster winners \u2014 one from each Jacobs School academic department. From this group, a faculty jury picks the best overall poster. While everyone attending the event can vote for a people\u2019s choice award, judges also bestow an award for transdisciplinary collaboration.<\/span><\/p>\n

Collaborations that drive relevance and outstanding research are two of the ingredients that propelled the Jacobs School of the ninth-best engineering school in the nation according to U.S. News this year, said Dean Albert P. Pisano.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not only doing good work, we are doing good work that matters and is important for the public good,\u201d Pisano said. \u201cToday is about giving students an opportunity to communicate the importance of their work to a community of our industry collaborators.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Pisano specifically thanked premier sponsor Viasat, partner sponsor Qualcomm and contributing sponsors ASML and Leidos. He also welcomed and thanked Qualcomm co-founder Irwin Jacobs, who attended Research Expo 2026. Irwin Jacobs and his late wife, Joan, gave a gift in 1998 that led to naming the school the Irwin and Joan Jacobs School of Engineering.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Radiation-free back pain procedures<\/span><\/h3>\n

Lu, this year\u2019s overall winner, is part of the research group of emeritus professor Frank E. Talke in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Lu\u2019s project aims to provide an alternative to the current use of radiation-producing X-ray imaging during procedures for spinal back pain. \u201cWe want to cut back on the amount of radiation that both patients and physicians are exposed to,\u201d Lu said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Currently, physicians use an X-ray imaging method called fluoroscopy during procedures for back pain to determine where in the spine to inject the medication that helps control a patient\u2019s pain. Lu and Talke, with Dr. Farshad Ahadian, a professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the UC San Diego School of Medicine, propose using MRI and augmented reality instead.<\/span><\/p>\n

The process, which they are still perfecting, consists of first creating a 3D model of the spine from MRI images. The model is then displayed on augmented reality goggles worn by the physician. As a result, the surgeon sees not only the outer surface of the patient\u2019s body during a procedure, but also the anatomy of the patient below the skin, allowing the surgeon to determine the best injection site for delivering pain medication. MRI markers and QR-like registration markers on both the virtual model and the patient ensure that the virtual model is aligned accurately on the patient\u2019s back.<\/span><\/p>\n

The research team on the project also includes bioengineering undergraduate students Steven Hui and Isabelle Garlepp and high school student Sherry Huang.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThis research is an interdisciplinary project that requires contributions from bioengineering, mechanical engineering, computer vision, materials science, robotics, and medical instrumentation,” said Professor Talke, who was one of the four founding chairs of the Center for Memory and Recording Research at UC San Diego.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lu will receive $1,500 for the Research Expo grand prize, named after the Jacobs School\u2019s founding dean, Lea Rudee. Each department poster winner receives $700, while the people\u2019s choice award receives $500. Finally, the winners of the transdisciplinary collaboration award receive $1,000.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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From left: Jacobs School Dean Albert P. Pisano, Stefan Llewellyn Smith, chair of the UC San Diego Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, grand prize winner Ph.D. student Songyuan Lu, and professor emeritus Frank Talke.\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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2026 Research Expo award winners<\/span><\/h3>\n

Bioengineering\u2014Shu and K.C. Chien Best Poster<\/span>
\nCharacterizing metabolite-microbe interactions in the vaginal microbiome<\/span>
\nStudent: Tanya Kumar<\/span>
\nAdvisors: Erik Cyphert and Rob Knight<\/span><\/p>\n

Aiiso Yugeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering Best Poster<\/span>
\nPeptide-directed assembly of plasmonic nanomaterials: mechanism and applications<\/span>
\nStudent: Lubna Amer<\/span>
\nAdvisor: Jesse Jokerst<\/span><\/p>\n

Computer Science and Engineering Best Poster<\/span>
\nUGV-UAV autonomous search and rescue<\/span>
\nStudent: Seth Farrell<\/span>
\nAdvisor: Henrik Christensen<\/span><\/p>\n

Electrical and Computer Engineering Best Poster<\/span>
\nFlexible, high-resolution electrodes for cortical mapping and brain-machine interfaces<\/span>
\nStudent: Tara Porter<\/span>
\nAdvisors: Shadi Dayeh & Terry Sejnowski<\/span><\/p>\n

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering\u2014Katie Osterday Best Poster<\/span>
\nComputer-navigated surgery using MRI and augmented reality<\/span>
\nStudent: Songyuan Lu<\/span>
\nAdvisor: Frank E. Talke<\/span><\/p>\n

Structural Engineering Best Poster<\/span>
\nNumerical and experiment analysis of local defect resonance in the ultrasonic guided wave scattering<\/span>
\nStudent: Mingyue Zhang<\/span>
\nAdvisor: Hyonny Kim<\/span><\/p>\n

People\u2019s Choice Award<\/span>
\nAutomated optical metrology of additively manufactured steels: machine vision approach to defect characterization and fatigue prediction<\/span>
\nStudent: Can Uysalel<\/span>
\nAdvisor: Maziar Ghazinedjad<\/span><\/p>\n

Transdisciplinary Collaboration Award<\/span>
\nMetaBioLiq: a wearable passive metasurface aided mmWave sensing platform for biofluids<\/span>
\nStudent: Baicheng Chen<\/span>
\nCo-presenter: Deepta Bharadwaj<\/span>
\nAdvisor: Xinyu Zhang<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[link to article]   April 21, 2026 Mechanical engineering Ph.D. student Songyuan Lu won the grand prize at this year\u2019s Research Expo, where more than 150 students presented their research<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1724"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1726,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1724\/revisions\/1726"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1724"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1724"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/knightlab.ucsd.edu\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1724"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}