UMass Boston

Principal Investigator (PI) Daniel Haehn, PhD, director of UMass Boston’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Research Core Facility and an associate professor of computer science, will lead SPLEEN-US: Open Annotated Spleen Ultrasound Dataset for Precision Neuromodulation.

This July, the SPLEEN-US project received a three-year award of $745k from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) Bits to Bytes program. Bits to Bytes provides grants for scientific projects that generate and analyze large datasets using AI to answer pressing life science questions, and to attract and train data scientists in the Commonwealth. 

The project will result in an open dataset of more than 2,000 video scans of spleens with associated metadata such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, BMI, and socioeconomic indicators. The dataset provides the information needed for training AI to detect patterns that can predict where a spleen is located so that it can automatically be identified on an ultrasound. The spleen can be challenging to see or feel because of its soft, gel-like texture and its position behind the stomach and ribs. 

“The SPLEEN-US initiative aligns closely with UMass Boston’s mission to develop open, collaborative infrastructure that accelerates biomedical discovery. Building upon the success of PI Haehn’s previous Bits to Bytes project, OMAMA-DB: The World’s Largest Breast Cancer Database, this new effort will create a transformative dataset and computational foundation for AI-guided neuromodulation therapies,” said Bala Sundaram, the vice provost for research and strategic initiatives at UMass Boston. 

Industry partner INIA Biosciences aims to use the dataset to develop a wearable medical device that enables people to self-administer treatments at home. The SPLEEN-US collaboration supports the company’s goal of advancing treatments that target the body's inflammatory reflex. Patients would use the device to deliver therapeutic stimulation to their spleens. The spleen is a central organ for the inflammatory reflex, and research suggests that targeted stimulation of the spleen can help manage chronic inflammatory conditions such as Crohn's disease, rheumatoid arthritis, long COVID, and psoriasis.  

Haehn and CEO of INIA Biosciences, Dragana Savic, were connected through the Venture Development Center (VDC), UMass Boston’s on-campus business incubator. Among its services, the VDC helps startups identify and connect with UMass Boston’s faculty experts and research resources, such as Haehn’s AI Research Core Facility. 

In addition to their current team, a postdoctoral researcher will join INIA Biosciences to work on the project. 

The Manning College of Nursing & Health Sciences (MCNHS) will be essential to the data collection process. MCNHS collaborators include Dean Bo Fernhall, Associate Vice Provost of Graduate Education and Exercise & Health Sciences Professor Tracey Baynard, and Exercise & Health Sciences PhD student Rowan Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick has prior ultrasound experience and will lead the ultrasound acquisitions. 

The VDC also played a role in connecting Haehn with two undergraduate workers who have been hired to work on the SPLEEN-US research team. On Saturdays during Spring '26, the students participated in an AI class Haehn was teaching as part of an MLSC-funded hands-on workforce development program called IMPACT (Immersive Mentored Practicum for AI/ML Career Training). VDC Executive Director Shubhro Sen was the PI for the IMPACT program. 

Associate Professor Haehn is a biomedical imaging and visualization researcher who investigates how computational methods can accelerate biological and medical research. Since he joined UMass Boston in 2019, his projects have received over $3 million in research awards. Learn more about his work.