A gene that helps keep the retina clean could explain why the eye can reveal clues about what is happening in the brain.
A gene that helps keep the retina clean could explain why the eye can reveal clues about what is happening in the brain.
At just 14 years old, Edward Kang, from Hackensack, New Jersey, came across a study that seemed almost illogical to him: using the eye to understand the brain. That finding by researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong obsessed him so much that he taught himself to code, using online tutorials, in an attempt to improve it.
That is how RetinaMind was born, an artificial intelligence system that analyzes retinal images and detects patterns associated with autism and ADHD with 89% accuracy. Kang did not stop there: he also identified a dozen candidate genes, including one called ABCA4, which could explain why these patients’ retinas look different.
The project earned him second place and $175,000 in the Regeneron Science Talent Search 2026, the most prestigious science competition for high school students in the United States. And although diagnosing autism and ADHD usually takes months or years, Kang is already thinking about the next step: teaching his model to distinguish levels of severity in order to better guide treatments.