Presentation – AI-AGE

23.02.2025.23.02.2025.

AI-AGE Shines at the 29th IT 2025 Conference on Information Technology

We are thrilled to share highlights from the successful presentation of the AI-AGE project at the 29th IT Conference, held from February 19-22, 2025, in Žabljak, Montenegro. Our team had the opportunity to present the project’s advancements and engage with a vibrant community of experts and stakeholders over three dynamic days.

🔬 Wednesday – Project Results Fair:
The AI-AGE team showcased the project’s core achievements during the Project Trade Fair and Dissemination of Results. Attendees explored how AI-AGE is pushing the boundaries in identifying novel, non-invasive biomarkers of aging using artificial intelligence. The session allowed for meaningful exchanges with other project teams and stakeholders, sparking discussions on future collaborations and applications of AI in medicine.

AI-AGE project was presented at the IT 2025 spectial session dedicated to dissemination of project results

🎤 Thursday – Expert Presentation:
Mr. Dejan Babić delivered an insightful presentation detailing his research and contributions to the AI-AGE project. His talk covered the technical intricacies of using deep learning for retinal image segmentation, a key part of AI-AGE’s mission to discover aging biomarkers. The session attracted considerable interest, leading to valuable feedback and new ideas for further research.

Mr. Dejan Babic giving a presentation on AI-AGE at the EuroCC2/EuroCC4SEE workshop for young researchers

💡 Friday – Panel Discussion:
Prof. Nataša Popović joined the distinguished panel “ICT Future from the Present”, where she shared perspectives on the evolving role of AI in healthcare and the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. Her insights emphasized how projects like AI-AGE are not only advancing scientific research but also paving the way for practical healthcare solutions.

prof. Natasa Popovic taking part in the panel discussion on the last day of the conference

We are grateful to the organizers of IT 2025 for providing a platform to share our work and to all participants for their engaging questions and support. The AI-AGE team looks forward to building on this momentum as we continue our mission to revolutionize aging research.

31.12.2024.05.03.2025.

AI-AGE project and progress presentation

On 27 December, University of Donja Gorica hosted a discussion on active project results and progress. Mr Dejan Babic, a young researcher on AI-AGE project gave a presentation on the project and current results.

Mr Dejan Babic gave a presentation on the AI-AGE project

It was a good opportunity to exchange experiances and explore possibilities for collaboration

Dejan went over the current status of the project and plans for the next year

14.09.2024.15.09.2024.

Awakening the vision at UDG: lectures and workshops for new students

AI-AGE team participated in presenations during the implementation of the “Awakening the vision at UDG 2024”. We gave several presentations and workshops relevant to the AI and need to understend and adopt the AI in everyday’s life and workflow. Please check out the video about the event that engaged about 1000 new students enrolled in the first year of studies at UDG.

Awakening the Vision at UDG

Several AI related workshops offered to around 1000 new students at UDG

Participation in lectures and discussions on AI in everyday’s life and workflow

13.09.2024.07.10.2024.

Announcement of the preliminary defense of PhD thesis

Isidora Rubežić – Lukić, MD, will publicly present the goals and expected results, as well as present the research program with the conditions for the successful completion of the doctoral thesis entitled: “Methods for the assessment of biological age and their correlation with morbidity and frailty syndrome”. This preliminary defense will take place in the Meetin Room, Faculty of Medicine, before the Committee for the Evaluation of Doctoral Dissertation Applications, consisting of:

Prof. Dr. Aneta Bošković – full professor of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Montenegro, president
Prof. Dr. Nataša Popović – associate professor of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Montenegro, mentor-member
Prof. Dr. Antoaneta Adžić Zečević – associate professor of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Montenegro, member

Assessing the biological age, multimorbidity and fragility syndrome by analyzing fundus photographs

30.05.2024.08.03.2025.

Participation at the EAsDEC 2024 Conference

Prof. Adzic-Zecevic and prof. Popofic at the EAsDEC conference

Researchers from the AI-AGE team participate in the he 34th EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FOR DIABETIC EYE COMPLICATIONS (EAsDEC) Meeting, which was hosted in the city of Milan, Italy. Initial research results from the AI-AGE project were presented in a form of a poster by prof. N Popovic and prof. A. Adzic Zecevic. The conference took place from 30 May to 1 June. More information can be found here.

ABSTRACT – Introduction / study design: Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) is associated with changes in retinal microvascular complexity measured by fractal dimension (Df). Expression of micro RNAs (miRs), -146a and -101 is also affected by T2D, but the studies investigating these miRs in context of microvascular changes in T2D are scarce. Since hypertension (HTN) and Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) frequently coexist in patients with T2D, in the present cross-sectional observational prospective study, participants were divided in two groups – healthy (H, n=8), and with chronic disease (D, n=20, suffering from T2D, HTN and/or AD). The purpose: Study explores association between changes of retinal microvascular Df and expression levels of circulating miR-146a and miR-101 in patients with T2D. The influence of HTN and AD on this association is also investigated. Methods: Retinal fundus images were captured by using a non-mydriatic, hand-held MIIS-HORUS scope DES200. The optic disc-centered images were manually segmented, binarized, cropped to 350-pixel radius, and Df was determined by using ImageJ 1.53q. MiRs were isolated from plasma, quantified by qRT-PCR and normalized to expression levels of miR-361-5p. SPSS Statistics 29.0.1.0., t-test and ANCOVA were used to compare the two groups. P<0.05 was considered significant. Results: Age was not different between the 2 groups (Hvs.D mean age±SE=63.6±2.9 vs.68.5±1.8, p=0.17). Df and miR-101 expression were decreased in the group D (Hvs.D mean: Df±SE=1.36±0.01 vs.1.32±0.01, p=0.016; miR-101±SE=1.68±0.32 vs.0.83±0.22, p=0.041). Eight participants in the group D had T2D (1-moderate, and 7-no diabetic retinopathy). All participants with T2D had HTN, and 5 of them also had AD. Next, we used HTN and AD as covariates to account for effects of these comorbidities, and to determine effects of T2D. This analysis showed: in addition to decreased Df and miR-101 expression, T2D was associated with increased expression of miR-146a (Hvs.D mean miR-146a±SE=0.58±0.29 vs.1.69±0.17, p=0.018). Conclusions: fa Changes in Df and in expression of miR-101 are non-specific, and can be caused by T2D and concurrent comorbidities. Increased expression of miR-146a might be a part of the unique expression pattern of the circulatory miRNAs associated with T2D.

The poster presentation session was an opportunity to exchange thoughts with other researchers

25.04.2024.04.03.2025.

Participation in the ANSO Training Workshop

A very successful two-day workshop for students and industry took place on April 22nd and 23rd 2023, on which young researches from AI-AGE gave presentation. The workshop was organized in the context of the training project called “Competency Training for IoT and AI – InnovateYourFuture” supported by ANSO – Alliance of International Science Organizations, China. The organization is done in collaboration with EuroCC Montenegro and Montenegrin AI Association. During the event, UDG also presented AI-AGE project, as well as some of other projects currently implemented at UDG.

Mr Dejan Babic gave presentation on ML/AI in medicine

ANSO InnovateYourFuture Workshop on 22-23 April 2023

Ms Zoja Scekic discussed data preparation for AI/ML application

10.03.2024.14.09.2024.

Wrapping up the IEEE IT2024 Conference

24.02.2024.26.02.2024.

AI-AGE presented at the IEEE IT2024

AI-AGE project was presented at the 28th IEEE IT2024 Conference that took place 21-24 Feb 2024 in Zabljak, Montenegro. The presentation took place in a poster section dedicated to project presentations. We had a chance to talk to conference attendees, our colleauges from Montenegro and abroad. Also, the next day we had a large group of students participating in the EuroCC Workshop on HPC and Industry Applications, where we had a chance to discuss the project posters and take their attention to AI-AGE and other projects presented at the conference.