ɫ����

from the (ARPA-H), it was for a bold idea with aggressive metrics. And it wasn’t guaranteed money. The team, led by biomedical engineer , had to deliver on its vision. Doing so could transform cancer screening and care, leading to one-size-fits-all tests that detect multiple cancers before they’re visible on CT or PET scans.

It’s a big goal, but that’s the point of ARPA-H. The agency funds staggeringly difficult healthcare innovation ideas that require major investment to succeed.

Two years into the , Kwong and the team from ɫ����, Columbia University, and Mount Sinai Health System has crossed a critical threshold.

They’ve built the first tool able to measure enzyme activity around cancer tumors and healthy cells. And they’ve deployed it to understand the unique signatures for tumors from 14 different kinds of cancer.

That data is powering the first version of a cancer “atlas.” Like a geographical atlas, it will offer directions to each kind of tumor, allowing scientists to design sensors that follow the map and detect cancer tumors when they’re still small.

“If I want to deliver a sensor to a particular region inside the body, right now, there's no way of directing it. We give it systemically, and it basically infuses all tissues all the time,” said Kwong, Robert A. Milton Professor in the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering. “What's powerful is that we’re now defining tissue sites with a specific molecular ‘barcode.’ Then if a sensor is given systemically, it should only turn on when the barcode matches the local tissue.”