Announcements of Opportunity
SURF: Announcements of Opportunity
Below are Announcements of Opportunity posted by Caltech faculty and JPL technical staff for the SURF program. Each AO indicates whether or not it is open to non-Caltech students. If an AO is NOT open to non-Caltech students, please DO NOT contact the mentor. Announcements of Opportunity are posted as they are received. Please check back regularly for new AO submissions!
Remember: This is just one way that you can go about identifying a suitable project and/or mentor. Click here for more tips on finding a mentor. Announcements for external summer programs are listed here.
*Students applying for JPL projects should complete a SURF@JPL application instead of a "regular" SURF application.
*Students pursuing opportunities at JPL must be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents.
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Project: | Differential aging of the degenerative spine | ||||||||
Disciplines: | Computer Science, All majors are welcome, but the project is best suited for students interested in pursuing a career in medicine | ||||||||
Mentor: |
Michael Safaee,
Assistant Professor of Neurological Surgery, (BBE),
michael.safaee@med.usc.edu, |
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Mentor URL: | https://providers.keckmedicine.org/provider/Michael+Meier+Safaee/207-3306065 (opens in new window) | ||||||||
Background: |
NOTE1: This project is being offered by an off-campus mentor and is open only to Caltech students. The project will be conducted at the University of Southern California Health Science Campus/Keck School of Medicine in Los Angeles, California. NOTE2: This is a unique opportunity for students to gain exposure to the medical field and contribute to research with implications towards improving our understanding of aging in the human spine. Students who contribute to this study and perform well will be included in all publications generated from these data. Back pain is the leading cause of disability worldwide. Traditional models on lumbar spine disease have focused on the disc degeneration, however the paraspinal musculature remains a poorly understood mediator of pain and disability. This project aims to characterize functional, radiographic, and genetic features of paraspinal muscle in patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery. |
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Description: | Students will assist in the radiographic analysis of lumbar spine MRIs to help us better characterize degeneration of the paraspinal musculature using a radiomics-based approach. | ||||||||
References: | https://sites.usc.edu/uscradiomicslab/ | ||||||||
Student Requirements: |
Recommended (but not required) background knowledge of spine anatomy and lumbar spine MRI. Students with experience in machine learning would be well suited for this project. There may be some citizenship requirements regarding access to medical records but we should be able to work around them. |
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Programs: |
This AO can be done under the following programs:
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