Research that has the potential to reshape colon cancer screening was fueled by a Pilot Award from the Institute for Translational Medicine (ITM).

The ITM awarded $60,000 in 2017 to physician-researcher Marc Bissonnette, MD, Associate Professor of Medicine, and collaborator Chuan He, PhD, John T. Wilson Distinguished Service Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at UChicago,  to create a blood test that might one day replace the need for many colonoscopies.

Nearly a decade later, and the team has refined the test into a game-changing liquid biopsy with nearly 95% accuracy – far surpassing existing blood test options, according to coverage from the Biological Sciences Division (BSD) at the University of Chicago.

“The ITM launched us, and I will always be eternally grateful,” Bissonnette said.

The team is now moving the test toward commercialization with support from the Polsky Center at UChicago.