Approved Research

Characterization of the effects of cancer and cardiovascular diseases on the eyes using interpretable machine learning.

Lay summary

The eye is a sensory organ that reacts to visible light and is part of the sensory nervous system. The eye transparent cornea provides unique, non-invasive access to the cardiovascular system and the central nervous system, which may be affected by various diseases. This research aims to reveal new mechanistic insights into the effects of different diseases on the eyes and vision. For that purpose we will develop a toolbox of vasculature and neural DFI and OCT biomarkers, classical machine learning models using those biomarkers as well as deep learning models for the task of diagnosis or risk prediction, use model explainability methods to identify a digital biomarkers subset (using the classical machine learning approach) or newly discovered patterns (using the DL approach) most associated with a given endpoint. This research will reveal new relationships between patterns in the eye and a variety of diseases and consequently form a strong bridge between fundamental, clinical and engineering research. The newly discovered biomarkers and physiological insights have the potential to set the ground for development of novel screening and diagnostic procedures leveraging eye images thus impacting public health.