Ochsner BioDesign Lab: 3D Printing and Medical Extended Reality in Clinical Care
Field:
- Biomedical engineering
- Biostatistics
- Infectious disease
- Surgery and subspecialties
Location: Ochsner Clinical School
Type fo student:
- PGY1
- PGY2
Type of work:
- Qualitative methods
- Secondary data analysis
- Statistical analysis
- Systematic review
Brief synopsis:
The Ochsner BioDesign Lab has continued to mature into a translational innovation studio spanning advanced visualization, 3D printing, and medical extended reality. Current projects include patient-specific 3D printing (3DP) and advanced segmentation for patient education, medical training, and procedural simulation/planning. These efforts are embedded within active clinical programs and are designed to produce scalable deployable tools spanning neurosciences, orthopedics, transplant surgery, urology, and cardiology. In parallel, the lab is advancing virtual reality and mixed-reality platforms, including the Optokinetic Virtual Environment (OVE) for vestibular and neurologic rehabilitation and a broader Medical Extended Reality (MXR) initiative focused on developing and validating an MXR neuro-rehabilitation tool.
These projects require students who are comfortable operating at the interface of clinical reasoning, data interpretation, and technology. This includes but not bounded by structured literature search & synthesis, protocol development, quantitative analysis, or hands-on model validation. Several efforts are moving toward manuscript preparation, grant submissions, and regulatory-aware feasibility studies. These opportunities will also allow for collaboration with engineers, developers, and data scientists.
We are seeking motivated UQ medical students who are not only interested in innovation, but who demonstrate follow-through, intellectual rigor, and the ability to work independently within multidisciplinary teams. Ideal candidates bring strong analytical skills, comfort with ambiguity, and a willingness to engage deeply with complex clinical problems over time. Students who join the lab can expect meaningful responsibility, close mentorship, and the opportunity to contribute to work with real clinical and translational impact.
Please check out the Ochsner BioDesign Lab for more information.
