A new technology developed by Singapore scientists could potentially tell doctors how well patients are responding to cancer treatment.

Instead of looking at tumours, scientists at SMART BioSyM and Mechanobiology Institute at the National University of Singapore (NUS) decided to look at circulating tumour cells or CTCs. These are cells that break off from tumours. As they travel in the bloodstream, they can form tumours in other parts of the body, otherwise known as metastatic tumours.

While other scientists have cultured CTCs before, Dr Khoo said the Singapore-developed method is believed to be the fastest.

See The Straits Times story for more. This is based on the scientific paper in Science Advances.