2023-12-13 12:15:42
An extensive team of scientists is developing new technologies based on light and artificial intelligence to improve the diagnosis of various ocular, cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.
The team is made up of experts from an international consortium of universities, hospitals and companies led by the Sensors, Instrumentation and Systems Development Center (CD6) of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia – BarcelonaTech (UPC).
The specific goal of the consortium is to achieve earlier diagnoses of such diseases and treat them with greater precision. This goal is also the objective of the European BE-LIGHT project, coordinated by the Sensors, Instrumentation and Systems Development Center, and in which seven academic institutions, three hospitals and seven companies from Germany, France, Poland, Switzerland and Spain participate. .
The consortium is led by Meritxell Vilaseca, CD6 researcher and professor at the Faculty of Optics and Optometry of Terrassa (FOOT) and the Higher Technical School of Telecommunications Engineering of Barcelona (ETSETB), and Cristina Masoller, researcher of the research group Non-Linear Dynamics, Non-Linear Optics and Lasers (DONLL) and professor at the Higher School of Industrial, Aerospace and Audiovisual Engineering of Terrassa (ESEIAAT).
The research that will be carried out within the framework of the BE-LIGHT project represents a new step forward for the knowledge and diagnosis of retinal diseases, as researcher Meritxell Vilaseca explains: “Through the use of neural networks and techniques optogenetics, the new tools will allow us to better understand the functioning of the retina and the exchange of information between neurons, so that, based on quantitative models, diseases in the retina can be detected.”
The researcher points out that “the combination of various photonic technologies such as, for example, multispectral images and optical coherence tomography, complemented by AI algorithms, will allow the precise analysis of various ocular structures (cornea, vitreous, fundus) to detect early visual diseases and oculomotor disorders.” In addition, “AI evaluation of eye movement patterns, strongly controlled by different brain regions, can also offer new diagnostic tools for neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer’s or persistent COVID.” “.
Researchers Cristina Masoller and Meritxell Vilaseca in the laboratory. (Photo: UPC)
Cristina Masoller adds that “the project will also enable the development of new instruments and clinical methods capable, for example, of obtaining images of the patient’s blood vessels or ocular structures using optical and optoacoustic tomography or thermal imaging.” This technology “will help to non-invasively detect arteriosclerosis plaques early, among others.” Likewise, “new machine learning tools will be developed for the treatment and control of cardiac arrhythmias with light, which could replace current techniques based on electrical impulses.” The researcher adds that “the application of AI in combination with super-resolution microscopy techniques will allow images of biological structures smaller than one nanometer, such as proteins involved in Parkinson’s disease and other rare diseases, which will improve diagnosis. “. (Source: UPC)
#Photonics #artificial #intelligence #diagnose #diseases