Can a selfie detect anaemia?

At this year’s Microsoft Imagine Cup , team Eyenaemia used a Windows Phone and Azure to detect Anaemia with a selfie

Sometimes students remind us of the true capabilities of the technology around us. This is especially true at the Microsoft Imagine Cup, where students are challenged to use technology to do something amazing. The only technical restriction on the projects is they must use Visual Studio.

Team Eyenaemia entered the World Citizenship category, which asks students to build something that will help others. The two medical students from Australia, Jennifer Tang and Jarrel Seah, were inspired to find a way to make it easier to diagnose Aneamia. Anaemia is a condition where the red blood cells in the body do not work adequately. 2 billion people in the world suffer from anaemia, and 293 million children are affected.

Their solution is a simple, non-invasive screening tool made for use by everyday people. Eyenaemia analyses the conjunctiva and calculates the risk of anaemia by analyzing a photo of the eye. Putting years of medical training into the hands of untrained users. As their website claims

“If you can take a selfie – you can use Eyenaemia”

Their solution uses a phone app and does their image processing in the cloud using Azure. Using the cloud for imagine processing allows them to update their algorithm at any time without needing to make updates to their phone application.

Project Eyenaemia

This year’s students are next year’s entrepreneurs and researchers! The Imagine Cup helps students from Canada and around the world who are passionate about technology showcase their ideas and solutions! Learn more about the Imagine cup at www.imaginecup.com and learn more about this project at Eyenaemia.com.