Fairfax Co. students create app to find signs of oral cancer

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Yeah? Well I’d like to see them write cursive.

Fairfax Co. students create app to find signs of oral cancer

Scott Gelman | [e-mail]
April 4, 2025, 8:31 PM


Juniors Aniketh Bandlamudi, Lauren Kim, Vishal Manikanden, and Malek Swilam have dedicated months to developing an app that may help spot signs of oral cancer. (Courtesy Fairfax County Public Schools

Aniketh Bandlamudi first considered the idea for an application that can help identify signs of oral cancer when he was in eighth grade. But at the time, he didn’t have the resources he felt were necessary to execute the idea.

But last May, he met Vishal Manikanden at a robotics competition, and pitched him the idea. Now a junior at Oakton High School in Fairfax County, Virginia, the pair teamed up with Malek Swilam and Lauren Kim to create what they call “OCRadar.”

The app, Bandlamudi said, allows users with a phone or other smart device to take a generalized picture of their mouth. Then, it scans that image and produces information about whether there is a cancerous tumor inside.

“Oral cancer has been a really prominent cancer, with millions of cases every single year worldwide,” Bandlamudi said. “Yet there hasn’t been any accessible solutions that anyone from their own home could use, and the traditional methods of scanning require a hospital visit, plus a lot of money. A lot of places around the world, they just don’t have access to such resources.”

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Scott Gelman
Scott Gelman is a digital editor and writer for WTOP. A South Florida native, Scott graduated from the University of Maryland in 2019. During his time in College Park, he worked for The Diamondback, the school’s student newspaper.
[e-mail]

[sinkingfeeling]

1. As an oral cancer survivor, thanks. Although, my Stage IV cancer was on my tonsils.

[Karadeniz]

2. Look at those surnames.....maybe we need to reduce hs football funding and

support more intellectual pursuits....