Immunology Virtual Reality
Thesis for MFA in Creative Technologies
Immunology VR leverages the rich interactivity and immersion offered by virtual reality systems to create a highly interactive and narrative-driven immersive VR experience that takes students on an exciting journey inside the human body.
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The virtual experience in Immunology VR focuses on a specific type of white blood cell called a neutrophil. Neutrophils travel through blood vessels until they are called to “transmigrate” to the site of an infection inside body tissues. They use three major mechanisms (degranulation, phagocytosis, and neutrophil extracellular traps) to kill pathogens causing the infection, and each of the mechanisms has its own pros and cons.
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To help students learn about neutrophils and their properties, Immunology VR puts the student into the role of a neutrophil “pilot,” riding in the neutrophil as it patrols the blood vessel, “driving” the neutrophil to the transmigration portal by following chemical signals, navigating through the body tissue to get within range of enemy pathogens, and using their three “weapons” to do battle with the pathogens. Learners have the goal of defeating enough of the pathogens to restore their host’s health to a target level while avoiding excessive inflammation.
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Course: Art5994 Thesis
Skills: 3D Visual Design • C# Programming in Unity • VR UX/UI Design
Software: Cinema 4D • Maya • Unity3D • Substance Painter • Zbrush
VR experience screen recording
The immunology concept illustration
White blood cell character design
Fantastic Voyage 2021
Targeted COVID-19 Vaccine Delivery to Antigen-presenting Cells
In this interdisciplinary project, I led a group of graduate students from 3D Interaction Group at Virginia Tech and designed an educational VR experience for science education using interactive VR storytelling. The project won a design award in 3DUI Contest at IEEE VR 2021 Conference. I am responsible for the writing of experience scenario, all 3D visual designs, animations, and some 3D UI designs.
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Abstract
Science storytelling is an effective way to turn abstract scientific concepts into easy-to-understand narratives. Science storytelling in immersive virtual reality (VR) can further optimize learning by leveraging rich interactivity in a virtual environment and creating an engaging learning-by-doing experience. In the current context of the COVID-19 pandemic, we propose a solution to use interactive storytelling in immersive VR to promote science education for the general public on the topic of COVID-19 vaccination. The educational VR storytelling experience we have developed uses sci-fi storytelling, adventure and VR gameplay to illustrate how COVID-19 vaccines work. After playing the experience, users will understand how the immune system in the human body reacts to a COVID-19 vaccine so that it is prepared for a future infection from the real virus.
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Project: 3DUI Contest, IEEE VR 2021
Skills: 3D Visual Design • C# Programming in Unity • VR UX/UI Design
Software: Cinema 4D • Maya • Unity 2019 • Zbrush
Save the Space Elevator
A Mixed Reality (XR) Escape Room Experience with Haptic Feedback
In this project, I worked with a group of Computer Science graduate students to create a mixed reality experience with haptic feedback. The intent of the project is to to provide a compelling user experience in virtual reality while overcoming the limitations of physical space and current tracking devices. To meet these goals, we designed a time travel scenario that incorporates several novel features. A time machine increases efficiency in the use of physical space. A passive haptic camera prop provides a help system that is integrated into the storyline. Finally, the concept of a “temporal stabilizer” provides a plausible way to reuse a single tracking device to track multiple passive haptic props.
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I created all the visual designs and animations for the virtual environment.
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Project: Save the Space Elevator
Skills: 3D Visual Design • C# Programming in Unity • VR UX/UI Design
Software: Maya • Unity 2019 • Substance Painter
3D models textured in Substance Painter
Physical props created from everyday objects
Player One VR
Embodied Virtual Reality for Sports Training
In this project, I worked with people from different areas at Virginia Tech to create an embodied virtual reality training simulator for football quarterbacks.
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I created all the visual designs and animations for the virtual environment.
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Project: Player One VR
Skills: 3D Visual Design • C# Programming in Unity • VR UX/UI Design
Software: Maya • Unity 2017 • Substance Painter
Virtual football player animations
