Optics and optoelectronics expertise firm Zeiss India has collaborated with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) to start out a research lab for AI in eye care at the IISc campus.
The initiative goals to leverage AI to drive developments in eyecare options and allow researchers at IISc to discover the expertise’s potential in facilitating early analysis, remedy personalisation, and accessibility in ophthalmology.
Ashish Modi, Head of Centre of Application Research India (ZEISS India’s R&D Division), informed The Hindu that the lab is being set up with high-end IT infrastructure for Master’s and PhD college students.
“We will sponsor these students. As of now, we have two Master’s students who have enrolled and we are looking for two PhD students,” stated Mr. Modi including that the plan is to have round 8-10 researchers working in the lab over the subsequent three years.
Creating database
The lab which is a part of Zeiss India’s CSR initiative would initially look at research on creating datasets for glaucoma, AI-enabled early screening of diabetic retinopathy and early identification of ageing-related cognitive impairment.
On high of this, it might additionally look at constructing handheld units that may be taken to distant areas, enabling AI to do large-scale screening, thereby decreasing the load on healthcare employees, and dealing with hospitals to assemble, standardise and annotate information to develop prime quality information.
Intertwining two
Dr. Rajesh Sundaresan, Dean – Department of Electrical Communication Engineering, IISc, informed The Hindu that the lab matches nicely into the institute’s plan of setting up a medical college and hospital.
“Clinical research is somewhat separated from practice in India. Intertwining these two is important and the hospital at IISc is one such experiment. We have to think of healthcare, diagnostics and delivery of healthcare in a modern way, and AI can enable the acceleration of better healthcare today. There is a concerted effort to bring together AI-enabled healthcare with the hospital and the medical school, and the technology and science at IISc,” he stated.
Published – February 18, 2025 06:01 pm IST
