While the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic dominated headlines in 2020, advances in other medical fields may have gone unnoticed. Benjamin G. Neel, MD, PhD, professor in the Department of Medicine and director of NYU Langone Health’s Perlmutter Cancer Center, discusses several advances in cancer research with Healthline, including technologies under development for using blood samples to detect cancer early.

“It’s been known for quite some time that tumors release DNA into the bloodstream, we have technology developing from the standpoint of monitoring tumors, conducting sensitive tests for tumors, for tests for recurrence of cancers and protein-based tests,” Dr. Neel says

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