#medicalvisualisation

[glasgowcityofscientists-blog]

Yeshwanth Pulijala

What do you look like on the inside?

THE PERSON

When working as a dentist in India, Yeshwanth was inspired by his love of art and science to move to Glasgow to study Medical Visualisation. This new and exciting field combines the power of 3D imagery with the human anatomy to create astonishing 3D digital representations of the body that can be explored like a game.

THE SCIENCE

Yeshwanth uses state of the art technology to make complex medical topics simple, using video game like graphics to make them easy to access and easy to understand.  His work at the Digital Design Studio is helping to create a full set of training models for future dental surgeons to practice with.  In particular, his work focuses on creating software to help dental students gain experience in giving injections.  

Before the 3D Definitive Human project, this essential part of every minor and major surgical had to be practiced on real patients or even other students! This software can help dentists become experts before having to try real life injections by using mixed reality technology like Oculus Rift and Leap Motion, gadgets that were mainly used for games until now.

THE IMPACT

The project was started by NHS Education for Scotland in association with University of Glasgow to provide validated 3D human anatomy, meaning that each representation is a completely accurate visualization of the human body. The haptic dental injection suite (which using haptic force feedback which gives the user the feeling of real touch in a digital environment) completely changes the way dental students learn.  This technology may also be used in schools or communities, giving people a fuller understanding of the inner workings of the human body.

THE FUTURE

There are still only a very small number of experts experimenting in this field internationally, meaning that future scientists have endless possibilities to explore.  The technology can be used to understand more about the way our body works by exploring bits that are usually concealed from view.  Using virtual reality devices like Oculus Rift will spark a whole new type of encounter with the human body where it can be explored from the inside out, seeing each part in action.

THE FACTS

Full name: Yeshwanth Pulijala

Place of Study: School of Art, Design and Architecture, University of Huddersfield.

Specialism: Medical Visualisation

Place of Work: Digital Design Studio, Glasgow School of Art

Current Role: Research Assistant

Web Link: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/yeshwanthp; https://pathbrite.com/Yeshwanth/uMyS

Affiliations: PhD student, MSc Medical Visualisation, BDS.

Achievements: Awarded full funding for the PhD by the University of Huddersfield.