29 September 2025
King's PhD Student Triumphs at Prestigious International Medical Imaging Conference
Zhi Qin Tan, a PhD student in the Centre for Oral Clinical & Translational Sciences at King’s College London, has achieved outstanding success at one of the world’s leading conferences in medical imaging and computer-assisted intervention.
At the MICCAI 2025 ODIN Workshop, held on 27 September in Daejeon, South Korea, Zhi Qin competed in a series of highly technical international challenges focused on 3D CBCT (cone beam computed tomography) image segmentation - a critical area in dental imaging and diagnostics. The competition included three segmentation challenges at the conference, which was held ahead of the workshop.
A remarkable achievement, Zhi Qin claimed the top spot for the three segmentation challenges at the conference.
Working alongside his supervisory team Yunpeng Li, Owen Addison, and Xiatian Zhu, Zhi Qin developed novel, computationally efficient methods for segmenting CBCT images of the facial skeleton - data routinely used in dental practice. These methods were benchmarked against global competitors using standardised datasets in three major challenges:
- ToothFairy 3 Task 1: Fast and accurate segmentation of 46 anatomical structures (1st place)
- ToothFairy 3 Task 2: Interactive segmentation of the inferior alveolar nerve (1st place)
- STSR 2025: Semi-supervised tooth and pulp segmentation (1st place)
These competitions are a hallmark of the MICCAI community, designed to push the boundaries of technical innovation in medical image analysis. The ODIN Workshop, in particular, is dedicated to advancing dental imaging research and fostering collaboration between academia, clinical practice, and industry.
“It was an honour to represent the Faculty of Dentistry, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences at King’s College London at the MICCAI 2025 ODIN workshop and present our submissions to the workshop competitions. Winning all three segmentation competitions with participants from all around the world is a truly proud moment for me, and for the supervisory team that supported me,” said Zhi Qin.
“This is a fantastic achievement that highlights the strength of interdisciplinary research at King’s,” said Professor Owen Addison, Head of Centre for Oral, Clinical & Translational Sciences. “Zhi Qin’s success reflects the calibre of our students and the impact of our work at the intersection of dentistry and AI.”