Can an app identify genetic diseases?

AN application specialied in facial recognition, called Face2Gene, is able to identify over 300 rare diseases. It does this by identifying signs and symptoms left by the disease on the face of a child.

Facial recognition never ceases to amaze. Widely used on social networks, this technology is also developing in the medical field. According to an article published by Wired, the Face2Gene application is able to recognize more than 300 diseases simply by scanning a patient's face. Thanks to an update, incorporating a new algorithm, more than 800 additional diseases are indexed.

So how does it work? Moti Shniberg, the engineer behind the app, noticed that doctors can use the appearance of a child's face to detect a rare disease because these pathologies can leave certain clues on the faces of youngsters.

This specialist in facial recognition is developing, with his start-up FDNA, a machine learning algorithm, whose first outcome was the release of Face2Gene in 2014. To achieve this, he draws on the experience of his previous startup, sold to Facebook in 2012.

However, this technology has flaws. The specialists acknowledge that their application cannot detect the majority of genetic diseases. The reason for this is precisely their rarity. For a disease to be recognized, the artificial intelligence must have at least seven photos of patients suffering from this disorder.

Ahead of its next update, this application already has several thousand users worldwide.