Looking Inside Cells – Educational VR Simulation

Client: Verizon, in collaboration with CREATE Lab & Future Reality Lab at NYU
Role: XR Designer | 3D Artist | Unreal Engine 4.27

Looking Inside Cells is a research-led VR learning experience designed for middle school students. Instead of memorizing diagrams from a textbook, students step inside a futuristic classroom and literally build, dissect, and transform living cells in their own hands. They can trigger mitosis, specialize organelles, and explore cell biology through direct, playful experimentation.

My Contributions

🧬 XR Interaction:

1. Designed interactive mechanics that turn abstract biology concepts into tangible experiences.
2. Prototyped with Unreal Engine Blueprints to handle user actions, physics, menus, and visual feedback.
3. Developed two layers of UI:
   • Diegetic tools like a spray bottle to activate cells, a vacuum gun to dissolve membranes, and a wristwatch menu that keeps the experience immersive.
   • Non-diegetic panels for precision controls and classroom-style learning scaffolding.

🎨 3D Art & Environment Creation:

• Modeled, textured, rigged, and animated dozens of cell organelles and classroom props, balancing realism with stylized clarity for learning.
• Built a futuristic laboratory environment optimized for VR performance (low polycounts, efficient draw calls, dynamic lighting).
• Created custom shaders and interactive VFX (cell walls dissolving, membranes flattening, organelle highlights) to reinforce biological processes visually.

⚡ Technical Innovation:

• Engineered modular Blueprints for reusable interaction systems, ensuring scalability for future lessons.
• Integrated shader parameters with interactive scripts for dynamic learning moments (e.g., mitosis stages visualized live).
• Established optimized rendering pipelines for Oculus hardware to maintain comfort and immersion.