Delaney Sondgeroth presented her research at the Fall Undergraduate Research Festival (FURF). Delaney is a 4th year BME undergraduate student, ICRU fellow, and student researcher in the PicV lab. 

Delaney's poster was titled "Automated Analysis of Kidney Structure using Scanning Electron Microscopy and Deep Learning​". The goal of this project was to develop and evaluate deep learning-based segmentation models capable of identifying podocyte foot process and filtration slits in healthy (ND) and diseased (D) kidney tissue to support quantitative assessment of ultrastructural changes. A two-stage pipeline was proposed which improved performance by first isolating relevant ultrastructural areas and then focusing on detailed slit segmentation. The results demonstrate the potential of automated methods to provide consistent, objective quantification of podocyte morphology and effacement.