MSc Thesis Defence: Explainable AI for Type 2 Diabetes Risk Assessment

On October 21, 2026, MSc candidate Sanja Lazić successfully defended her thesis entitled “Interpretable Machine Learning and Deep Learning Models for Type 2 Diabetes Risk Prediction Based on Behavioural and Clinical Indicators” within the Artificial Intelligence Master’s programme at the University of Donja Gorica, Faculty for Information Systems and Technologies, under the mentorship of Prof. Dr. Tomo Popović.

Ms Sanja Lazic during her thesis defence

The research was partially supported by the AI-AGE project, with additional support from NCC HPC Montenegro within the EuroCC3 project. The thesis explores the application of explainable artificial intelligence to health risk assessment, focusing on the development of reliable and interpretable predictive models that use behavioural, clinical, and demographic indicators without requiring laboratory tests. The work contributes to research and capacity building in medical AI, particularly in model interpretability, reliability, and the potential application of AI-based tools in preventive healthcare.

ABSTRACT – This thesis presents the development and systematic evaluation of machine learning and deep learning models for assessing the risk of type 2 diabetes using questionnaire-based health indicators. The study analysed a dataset containing 253,680 records and 21 predictive variables, comparing five approaches: Logistic Regression, Random Forest, XGBoost, LightGBM, and a deep neural network. Model performance was evaluated in terms of predictive discrimination, probability calibration, and interpretability. While the deep neural network achieved the highest ROC-AUC score (0.7728), LightGBM demonstrated the most balanced overall performance. Explainable AI techniques, including TreeSHAP, Integrated Gradients, and DeepLIFT SHAP, were employed to identify factors contributing to individual predictions. A prototype web application was also developed to demonstrate how estimated risk and its contributing factors could be presented to users. The findings highlight the potential of interpretable AI models to support non-invasive health risk assessment and preventive screening, while emphasizing the need for further validation before clinical application.

Prof. Nataša Popović Presented at Regional Congress of Physiologists in Osijek

The AI-AGE project was presented at the 4th Regional Congress of Physiological Societies and 6th Congress of the Croatian Physiological Society, held on 14–16 October 2026 in Osijek, Croatia. The congress brought together researchers and experts from across the region to exchange scientific findings and discuss advances in physiology, biomedical research, and emerging technologies.

Prof. Dr. Nataša Popović, from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Montenegro, delivered an invited lecture entitled “The Retina as a Window to Systemic Physiology: Translating Physiological Signals into Digital Biomarkers.” The presentation highlighted the AI-AGE project and its research results, focusing on the use of artificial intelligence and retinal imaging to identify potential non-invasive biomarkers of systemic health. Particular attention was given to recent findings exploring the potential of deep learning for detecting disease-associated patterns in retinal images.

Participation in the congress also provided an excellent opportunity for networking and exchanging experiences with colleagues from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Hungary, and other countries. These discussions helped strengthen regional scientific connections and explore opportunities for future collaboration in AI-supported biomedical research.

The event contributed to the dissemination of AI-AGE results and increased the project’s visibility within the regional scientific community. For more information, visit the official congress website and the Congress Programme and Book of Abstracts.

AI-AGE Research on Retinal AI for Colorectal Cancer Published

We are pleased to announce the publication of a new AI-AGE research paper in Current Medical Imaging: “Deep Learning Discrimination of Colorectal Cancer using Retinal Fundus Photographs: UK Biobank Case-Control Study,” by Ivan Jovovic, Tomo Popovic, Isidora Rubezic Lukic, Dejan Babic, and Natasa Popovic.

The study investigates whether deep learning analysis of retinal fundus photographs can distinguish individuals with colorectal cancer (CRC) from those without CRC. Using 1,600 retinal images from the UK Biobank and an EfficientNet-B3 deep learning model, the study achieved an AUROC of 0.945 on an independent participant-level test set.

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The findings support the hypothesis that retinal images may contain measurable signatures associated with systemic diseases beyond ophthalmology. At the same time, the study shows that retinal AI should not currently be considered a stand-alone diagnostic tool for colorectal cancer. Its potential value is primarily as a future non-invasive triage or risk-enrichment approach, subject to further validation in longitudinal and clinically representative populations.

This publication represents an important output of the AI-AGE project and directly contributes to its research objectives related to the use of artificial intelligence and retinal imaging for identifying novel non-invasive biomarkers associated with aging and age-related diseases.

The article was published online on 11 September 2026 in Current Medical Imaging and is currently available as an Early View article [link].

MSc Thesis Defence: Machine Learning and AI Model Development for Medical Applications

On June 29, 2026, MSc candidate Anesa Abazović successfully defended her thesis entitled “Machine Learning and AI Model Development for Medical Applications” within the Artificial Intelligence Master’s programme at the University of Donja Gorica. Through its support for the programme, mentoring activities, and development of competencies in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, NCC Montenegro contributes to preparing young researchers to apply advanced AI methods in medicine and other socially relevant domains. The thesis investigates the application of machine learning and deep learning to medical image analysis and clinical data classification, while also considering the technical, ethical, and practical challenges of integrating AI systems into healthcare.

Ms Anesa Abazovic during her MSc defence

ABSTRACT – This thesis explores the potential of machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) models in the detection of ovarian cancer and the prediction of pneumonia. In the first part, a YOLO model was used to identify tumor lesions in medical images, while in the second part, XGBoost, Random Forest, and neural network models were applied for the classification of clinical data. Model performance was evaluated using metrics such as precision, recall, accuracy, specificity, F1-score, ROC-AUC, MCC, mAP50, and mAP50-95. The experimental analysis demonstrated that AI models can achieve promising performance in both clinical scenarios, with certain limitations that require further validation. In addition to technical aspects, ethical considerations were also examined, including model interpretability, data privacy, and the integration of AI systems into healthcare information systems. It is concluded that AI can provide significant support to modern diagnostics, with the need for further improvements and clinical validation.

MSc Thesis Defence: Synergy of Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing in Tuberculosis Diagnostics and Education

On June 29, 2026, MSc candidate Nikola Kavarić successfully defended his thesis entitled “Synergy of Computer Vision and Natural Language Processing in Tuberculosis Diagnostics and Education” within the Artificial Intelligence Master’s programme at the University of Donja Gorica. Through its support for the programme, mentoring activities, and development of competencies in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, NCC Montenegro contributes to preparing young researchers to develop interdisciplinary AI solutions for healthcare. The thesis investigates the combination of computer vision and Retrieval-Augmented Generation approaches for detecting signs of tuberculosis and providing educational explanations of medical findings.

Mr. Kavaric during his MSc defence (NCC Montenegro)

ABSTRACT – The aim of this thesis is the development and evaluation of a system that combines computer vision and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) models for the automatic detection of signs of tuberculosis in chest X-ray images and the educational explanation of findings. The initial hypothesis was that it is possible to develop a functional prototype capable of recognizing pathological changes in X-ray images and generating informative, literature-grounded responses for users. Within this research, a CNN model for binary classification and YOLO models for the localization of pathological changes were developed and evaluated. The CNN model achieved an accuracy of 97% on the test set, representing a solid and measurable contribution. The YOLO models adequately demonstrated the concept of localization, with certain limitations related to dataset size and class imbalance. In addition to the visual module, a RAG prototype was implemented, utilizing a local medical document base to generate responses to user queries. The integration was implemented at the prototype level, without clinical validation. Based on the obtained results, the hypothesis was partially confirmed — to a significant extent for the CNN classification component within the test dataset used, while the YOLO and RAG components, due to dataset limitations and the absence of expert-verified reference answers, should be treated as proof-of-concept components. The thesis demonstrates that a modular combination of these technologies can serve as a useful foundation for the development of educational tools in the field of medical diagnostics.

AI-AGE Team Members Participated in the “AI Economy” Scientific Event at MASA

Podgorica, 18 June 2026 – Members of the AI-AGE project team participated in the scientific event “AI Economy”, held at the Montenegrin Academy of Sciences and Arts (MASA). The event brought together representatives of academia, researchers, experts and stakeholders to discuss the impact of artificial intelligence on the economy, education, professions, healthcare, digital transformation and broader societal development.

Dr Stevan Cakic discussing the AI and opportunities in small economies

The participation of the AI-AGE team focused on the importance of building local knowledge, research capacity and educational infrastructure for the responsible and effective use of artificial intelligence. Particular attention was given to the role of AI in education, the development of interdisciplinary skills, and the need to prepare students, researchers and institutions for an environment in which AI tools are becoming part of everyday professional and scientific practice.

Mr Igor Culafic presentng a paper on importance of niche development to stay competitive

The event also provided an opportunity to highlight the relevance of high-performance computing (HPC) for AI research and innovation. Access to advanced computing infrastructure is increasingly important for training and testing AI models, processing large datasets, supporting biomedical and data-driven research, and strengthening the overall capacity of universities and research teams in Montenegro.

Prof. Tomo Popovic talking about the competences and infrastructure needed for AI economy

Through its activities, the AI-AGE project continues to contribute to capacity building in the fields of AI, HPC and applied data science, with a particular focus on education, research excellence and the development of solutions that can support healthcare, science and society. Participation in events such as “AI Economy” is an important step in strengthening cooperation between academia, research projects and wider institutional stakeholders in Montenegro.

Conference paper at IEEE IT2026 on intepretable ML for diabetes screening

Our team presented a paper titled “Interpretable ML for Diabetes and Prediabetes Screening Using Self-Reported Health Indicators” by S. Lazic, S. Cakic, I. Rubezic Lukic, N. Popovic, and T. Popovic at the 30. Annual Conferenc on Information Technology IT 2026. This was part of mentoring activities and efforts related to development of young researchers.

The paper was presented at the conference by Ms. Sanja Lazic (MSc candidate)

ABSTRACT – Early identification of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and prediabetes enables timely interventions, yet screening often relies on self-reported data rather than laboratory testing. This work compares lightweight Machine Learning (ML) models: Logistic Regression (LR), Random Forest (RF), Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost), Light Gradient Boosting Machine (LightGBM), and Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) trained on 21 self-reported indicators from the 2015 Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) dataset for three-class classification (no diabetes, prediabetes, diabetes). We propose a screening-oriented evaluation where a probability threshold is selected to achieve a target sensitivity (recall) of 0.80. LightGBM achieves balanced accuracy of 0.52 and precision of 0.33 at the target sensitivity, with 38% of cases flagged. Tree SHapley Additive exPlanations (TreeSHAP) highlight general health status, age category, body mass index (BMI), and hypertension as dominant predictors. A FastAPI web application provides individual risk estimates and instance-level explanations. The pipeline demonstrates feasibility of interpretable, calibrated screening from non-laboratory data.

AI-AGE Dataset Now Available on Zenodo

In line with the AI-AGE project’s commitment to open science and transparency, the dataset associated with our newly published BMJ Open paper has been made publicly available on Zenodo.

The dataset includes anonymised primary care data on frailty indicators, chronic diseases, and demographic variables among adults aged 40–69 in Montenegro. It provides a valuable resource for researchers working on biological ageing, frailty, multimorbidity, and AI-driven risk modelling, particularly in middle-income and transitional health systems.

By sharing this dataset, AI-AGE aims to support international collaboration, reproducibility, and secondary analyses that can further advance non-invasive ageing research.

🔗 Access the dataset on Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15530367

Research Results Published in BMJ Open

We are pleased to announce the publication of the AI-AGE project’s first peer-reviewed paper in BMJ Open: “Frailty and multimorbidity among adults aged 40–69 years in Montenegro: a cross-sectional pilot study.”

This is the first study to provide population-based evidence on frailty, prefrailty, and multimorbidity in middle-aged adults in Montenegro. The key finding with direct relevance for Montenegro is that more than half of adults aged 40–69 already show signs of prefrailty or frailty, with a sharp increase in chronic disease burden observed from the age of 55 onwards. This highlights a critical window for early prevention and intervention within primary healthcare, well before old age.

The study also demonstrates that frailty screening is feasible in routine primary care settings, providing a strong foundation for scaling up AI-supported, non-invasive biomarkers of ageing within the Montenegrin healthcare system.

🔗 Read the full open-access paper at the following [link].

Digital Biometrics of Myopia Risk

Dr. Božidar Cacić, a PhD student mentored by Prof. Dr. Nataša Popović and a member of the AI-AGE project team, participated in the International Conference on Medical and Biological Engineering in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo, 11–13 September 2025) by presenting a peer-reviewed conference paper, thereby contributing to interdisciplinary international cooperation and to the education and training of young researchers. The paper title is “Digital Biometrics of Myopia Risk: Correlating Smartphone Usage and Study Patterns with Myopia Using Objective Screen Time Metrics at the Faculty of Medicine in Montenegro”