AI app could transform eye health diagnosis

In use, a person can take a picture of their eye with a smartphone and AI trained on thousands of healthy and impaired eyes will generate an image that makes it much easier for an ophthalmologist to make a diagnosis.  

The AngioGenius technology has been developed by a team led by Dr Ethan Waisberg, an Academic Foundation Programme Doctor at Cambridge University, and a member of NASA’s Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Working Group.

Dr Waisberg got the idea whilst working on a NASA project that involved assessing changes in the eyes of astronauts over the course of long duration space missions.

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Over 75 per cent of astronauts in space experience some changes in their vision and can succumb to SANS (Spaceflight Associated Neuro-Ocular Syndrome), which can present in different ways at the expense visual function.

Dr Waisberg said assessing changes to an astronaut’s vision in the austere environment where they operate is extremely challenging.

However, the advent of AI has transformed the field of imaging, notably in the areas of detection and monitoring.

His research team developed a way to use handheld eye imaging technologies on the space station, incorporating a generative AI model that can produce an image of the eye that could otherwise only be acquired by much larger machines and the injection of a dye into a vein.

Back on Earth, Dr Waisberg plans to roll out AngioGenius to close to a billion patients over the next decade.

According to the World Health Organization, 2.2 billion people with visual impairments are living with visual impairments. Of this, one billion could have had their sight problems treated and lessen the $411bn lost in economic productivity.

On March 6, 2025, Dr Waisberg was named a winner at the seventh annual #21toWatch Awards, which acknowledges innovative individuals and companies from across Cambridge and the East of England.