The National Eye Institute has awarded a $423,500 grant to support groundbreaking research aimed at improving the diagnosis and treatment of a serious eye condition known as uveitis. Siamak Yousefi, PhD, associate professor at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center and fellow of the Association for Research in Vision and Opthalmology (ARVO), will lead this innovative project titled "A Generalizable Deep Learning Platform for Unifying Quantification of Experimental Autoimmune Uveitis."

Yousefi’s research will use a disease model called Experimental Autoimmune Uveitis (EAU), which mirrors essential characteristics of human uveitis. EAU is crucial for studying the mechanisms of uveitis and testing new treatments. However, current methods of assessing EAU are inconsistent, making it difficult to accurately determine the severity of the disease and evaluate potential therapies.

Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly deep learning, has shown promise in the field of eye health. Dr. Yousefi's team aims to develop AI tools that can enhance the accuracy and consistency of diagnosing and grading the severity of uveitis.

“Our AI-driven approach to experimental uveitis represents a transformative step forward, enabling more precise and uniform quantification of disease severity,” Yousefi said. “This project will enhance the accuracy, consistency, and speed of uveitis research, paving the way for novel treatments and drug discovery.”