Mexican student wins James Dyson National Award for eye disease detection app

Mexican pupil Alejandro Aguilar enrolled astatine SABES Celaya University successful cardinal Guanajuato, won the 2025 James Dyson National Award with his OpticalApp project, an innovative exertion that tin diagnose ocular diseases from a smartphone.

Designed for users with nary aesculapian background, OpticalApp uses artificial quality to analyse oculus photographs and observe up to 28 diseases of the retina successful nether 30 seconds. 

Paired with an AI-powered smartphone app, Aguilar’s invention tin seizure diagnosable retinal imagery astatine a precise debased cost. (Luis Ignacio Sánchez Gómez/Facebook)

The app includes accessibility features specified arsenic an audio adjunct and enactment for aggregate languages, on with elaborate explanations of symptoms. The strategy is paired with a low-cost, easy-to-manufacture adapter for capturing retinal fundus images, providing a much affordable alternate to nonrecreational aesculapian instruments.

Aguilar was 1 of the 28 nationalist winners selected from a excavation of 2,100 entries. He came up with the thought aft discovering a deficiency of high-technology models of mobile oculus screening.

“The task began aft discovering galore publically disposable datasets, but noticing a deficiency of accessible, fine-tuned models for mobile screening,” Aguilar said. “This spread sparked the thought that I could lend thing meaningful.”

According to INEGI, 45.8% of radical with a ocular disablement successful Mexico study trouble seeing adjacent with glasses, and experts accidental that successful 80% of cases, blindness could beryllium prevented with timely diagnosis.

With input from his mother, who has enactment acquisition successful ocular exams, Aguilar said helium got a amended knowing of the problem. However, helium initially thought of processing an app for testicular diagnosis.

“Initially, the app aimed to enactment self-examination for testicular problems, but owed to a deficiency of datasets, I pivoted to retinal diagnostics – different country that felt personal, arsenic I’ve experienced floaters myself,” Aguilar said.

Aguilar utilized respective AI tools to make the app, including Google Colab and ChatGPT, which helium utilized arsenic a coding assistant. 

Mexican pupil Hector Hernández won a James Dyson National Award past twelvemonth for his invention of the Signal Glove, a wearable translation instrumentality that helps deaf individuals who usage Mexican Sign Language pass with radical who bash not cognize it.

Two different Mexican inventions were runners-up successful this year’s competition, including Rho, a menstrual garment for women experiencing poverty, and Lifecore, a proscription strategy for bosom transplants.

Aguilar’s biggest challenge, helium said, was “aligning the phone’s airy to the pupil without blinding the subject,” helium explained. “In aboriginal iterations, I program to plan a much stable, integrated operation with a stronger lens and amended airy control.” 

Founded successful 2002 by the James Dyson Foundation – portion of the appliance institution Dyson – international has supported much than 400 engineering inventions with planetary resources and visibility.

With this award, Aguilar has received fiscal enactment of 126,000 pesos (US $6,845) to proceed the improvement of OpticalApp. The apical 20 finalists volition beryllium announced connected Oct. 15.

With reports from Emprendedor