New 'Tetris' tech paves way for faster cancer diagnoses

It maps out complex protein interactions that could lead to more targeted therapies

- Zhaki Abdullah

The use of DNA helped pieces fall into place for a new technology that could mean faster and more accurate diagnoses of various cancers, as well as more targeted therapies.

Researchers from NUS' Institute for Health Innovation and Technology (iHealthtech) have developed a technology that maps out complex protein interactions within tumour cells.

This allows for greater precision in diagnoses by enabling accurate subtyping of cancers, as well as identifying aggressive forms of the disease, within just a few hours.

Cancer is the leading cause of death in Singapore, responsible for about one in four deaths. More than 84,000 cases were reported here between 2017 and 2021, according to the Singapore Cancer Registry Annual Report 2021.

Believed to be the first of its kind, the technology - dubbed Tandem Elongation of Templated DNA Repeats for Analysis of Interacting Proteins (Tetris) - can lead to more targeted therapies by identifying the specific proteins and interactions that contribute to cancer growth, the researchers said.

Their findings were published in peer-reviewed scientific journal Nature Biomedical Engineering in June.