GSoC 2026 – Project 6 Alteration Suggestions for PHI Anonymization & Retrieval

[Amank1412]

Hi @karthiksathishjeemain @pradeeban

I’m interested in Project 6 (PHI Anonymization + Retrieval) for GSoC 2026. After reviewing Project 5 and Project 6, both ideas feel similar in flow, especially around data processing, privacy, and backend handling. I want to specifically work on Project 6, but with some alterations and improvements to the existing Bio-Block architecture rather than creating something entirely new.

BEFORE (Current Workflow)

• JS backend:
  • Spreadsheet PHI anonymization
  • IPFS upload logic
• Python backend:
  • Image PHI anonymization (Presidio + OCR)
  • Semantic search (ChromaDB) + metadata filtering
• Two independent anonymization flows
• Basic retrieval pipeline
• Frontend currently in React (becoming outdated)

AFTER (My Proposed Alterations / Add-ons)

1. Unified PHI Anonymization Layer

   • Common anonymization policy across JS + Python
   • Standardized report format for both file types
   • Consistent logs + PHI detection summary

2. Improved PHI Detection

   • Better rule-based + NLP-based extraction
   • Unified PHI categories with confidence scores
   • Better handling of both structured and unstructured data

3. Retrieval Enhancements

   • Improved ranking combining embeddings + metadata
   • Optimized indexing + optional caching
   • More flexible and efficient filters

4. Testing + Synthetic PHI Data

   • Automatic synthetic PHI dataset generation
   • Unified end-to-end tests across both backends
   • Stress tests for large files and parallel uploads

5. Frontend Upgrade: Next.js + TypeScript

   • Better performance through SSR/SSG
   • Strong type safety and fewer runtime failures
   • Cleaner project architecture and long-term maintainability
   • Modern tooling and developer experience improvements

6. Architecture

Request for Confirmation

Let me know if these alteration ideas align with the expected scope for Project 6
and if this direction fits your vision for GSoC 2026.

Thanks!

[pradeeban]

@Amank1412 Definitely. The project ideas are mostly suggestions. You are allowed/encouraged to alter as you see fit in your proposal (without deviating too much from the proposed ideas that is). Your suggestions make sense to me.

[Amank1412]

Hi @pradeeban Thank you for the confirmation!