Center for Cancer Prevention, Early Detection and Monitoring

The Center for Cancer Prevention, Early Detection and Monitoring unites investigators from all academic disciplines across City of Hope — from mathematicians, bioinformaticians and molecular biologists to clinicians — to translate research on the prevention, early detection and monitoring of cancer into clinical practice.

By combining mathematical modeling, statistical analysis and AI with experimental, epidemiological and sequencing data, Cristian Tomasetti, Ph.D., has provided the first quantitative evidence for the large role that normal, e.g., endogenous, accumulation of somatic mutations in the cells of the human body plays in causing cancer.

The focus of the center is to produce key research findings, as well as novel technologies, for the prevention and the early detection of cancer, using noninvasive blood tests and imaging, which have the potential to detect cancers years before conventional diagnostic methods. The center comprises three branches: City of Hope’s Division of Mathematics for Cancer Evolution and Early Detection, TGen’s center for early detection technologies and City of Hope’s clinical research branch for early detection.

Our Research Highlights

  • Early multicancer detection
  • Monitoring for recurrence
  • Modeling cancer evolution
  • Cancer etiology
  • Artificial intelligence and imaging for detecting cancer

How We Make a Difference

Historically, less than 10% of funding is spent on cancer prevention. The early detection of cancer and precancer lesions is where our brightest future lies. Either we succeed at detecting cancer early, or we will always deal with late-stage cancers that metastasize across the body. The center advances technologies that make earlier detection possible, leading to lower mortality and a paradigm shift in the war against cancer.

Tomasetti’s work is recognized internationally for his contributions to the current understanding of cancer etiology and tumor evolution. His lab produces models of risk and evolution, and he currently spearheads new technologies and algorithms for the early detection of multiple cancers via a simple blood test or imaging, as well as for monitoring recurrence in patients.

Leadership

Cristian Tomasetti, Ph.D.
Cristian Tomasetti, Ph.D.
Director, Center for Cancer Prevention, Early Detection and Monitoring

Cristian Tomasetti, Ph.D., is the director of City of Hope's Center for Cancer Prevention and Early Detection, director of the Division of Mathematics for Cancer Evolution and Early Detection in the Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine at Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope

Full Bio

Publications

  • Tie J, Wang Y, Lo SN, Lahouel K, Cohen JD, Wong R, Shapiro JD, Harris SJ, Khattak A, Burge ME, Lee M, Harris M, McLachlan SA, Horvath L, Karapetis C, Shannon J, Singh M, Yip D, Ananda S, Underhill C, Ptak J, Sillliman N, Dobbyn L, Popoli M, Papadopoulos, Tomasetti C, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Gibbs P. Circulating tumor DNA analysis guiding adjuvant therapy in stage II colon cancer: 5-year outcomes of the randomized DYNAMIC trial. Nature Medicine 2025, 31:1509–1518.
  • Lahouel K, Douville C, Diergaarde B, Cohen J, Grant H, Kuo A, Ansari S, Wang Y, Lennon AM, Popoli M, Ptak J, Silliman N, Dobbyn L, Nehme N, Tie J, Gibbs P, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Schoen RE, Tomasetti C*. Detection of Patients with Advanced Adenomas through a Blood-based Assay. Cancer Research Communication 2025, 5(4):621-631.
  • Kimura H, Lahouel K, Tomasetti C, Roberts N. Functional characterization of all CDKN2A missense variants and comparison to in silico models of pathogenicity. eLife 2024, 13:RP95347. doi: 10.7554/eLife.95347.2.
  • Douville C†, Lahouel K†, Kuo A, Grant H, Avigdor B, Curtis S, Summers M, Cohen JD, Wang Y, Mattox A, Dudley J, Dobbyn L, Popoli M, Ptak J, Nehme N, Silliman N, Blair C, Judge K, Thoburn C, Gizzi J, Schoen RE, Tie J, Gibbs P, Ho-Pham LT, Tran BNH, Tran TS, Nguyen TV, Goggins M, Wolfgang CL, Wang TL, Shih IM, Lennon AM, Hruban RH, Bettegowda C, Kinzler KW, Papadopoulos N, Vogelstein B, Tomasetti C*. Machine Learning to Detect the SINEs of Cancer. Science Translational Medicine 2024, 16(731). doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.adi3883.
  • Mattox AK, Douville C, Wang Y, Popoli M, Ptak J, Silliman N,, Dobbyn L, Schaefer J, Lu S, Pearlman AH, Cohen JD, Tie J, Gibbs P, Lahouel K, Bettegowda C, 2 of 26Hruban R, Tomasetti C, Jiang P, Chan KCA, Lo YMD, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B. The origin of highly elevated cell-free DNA in healthy individuals
    and patients with pancreatic, colorectal, lung, or ovarian cancer. Cancer Discovery 2023, CD-21-1252. doi: 10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-1252.
  • Tie J, Cohen JD, Lahouel K, Lo SN, Wang Y, Kosmider S, Wong R, Shapiro J, Lee M, Harris S, Khattak A, Burge M, Harris M, Lynam J, Nott L, Day F, Hayes T, McLachlan SA, Lee B, Ptak J, Silliman N, Dobbyn L, Popoli M, Hruban R, Lennon AM, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Tomasetti C, Gibbs P. Circulating Tumor DNA Analysis Guiding Adjuvant Therapy in Stage II Colon Cancer. N Engl J Med 2022, 386:2261-2272.
  • Lipscomb J, Horton S, Kuo A, Tomasetti C. Evaluating the Impact of Multi-Cancer Early Detection Testing on Health and Economic Outcomes: Toward a Decision Modeling Strategy. Cancer 2021, in press.
  • Afsari B, Kuo A, Zhang Y, Li L, Lahouel K, Danilova L, Favorov A, Rosenquist T, Grollman AP, Kinzler KW, Cope L, Vogelstein B, Tomasetti C. Supervised mutational signatures for obesity and other tissue-specific etiological factors in cancer. eLife 2021, 10: e61082.
  • Tie J, Wang Y, Cohen J, Li L, Hong W, Christie M, Wong HL, Kosmider S, Wong R, Thomson B, Choi J, Fox A, Field K, Burge M, Shannon J, Kotasek D, Tebbutt NC, Karapetis C, Underhill C, Haydon A, Schaeffer J, Ptak J, Tomasetti C, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Gibbs P. Circulating tumor DNA dynamics and recurrence risk in patients undergoing curative intent resection of colorectal cancer liver metastases: a prospective cohort study. Special Issue on Early detection and Minimal Residual Disease. PLoS Medicine 2021, 18(5): e1003620.
  • Akshintala V, Weiland CJS, Bhullar F, Kamal A, Kanthasamy K, Kuo A, Tomasetti C, Gurakar M, Drenth JPH, Yadav D, Elmunzer BJ, Reddy DN, Goenka MK, Kochhar R, Kalloo AN, Khashab MA, van Geenen EJM, Singh VK. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, intravenous fluids, pancreatic stents, or their combinations for the prevention of post-endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography pancreatitis: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. The Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology 2021, 6(9): 733-742.
  • Tie J, Cohen JD, Lo S, Wang Y, Li L, Christie M, Lee M, Wong R, Kosmider S, Skinner I, Wong HL, Lee B, Burge ME, Yip D, Karapetis CS, Price TJ, Tebbutt NC, Haydon AM, Ptak J, Schaeffer MJ, Silliman N, Dobbyn L, Popoli M, Tomasetti C, Papadopoulos N, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Gibbs P. Prognostic Significance of Post-Surgery Circulating Tumor DNA in Non-Metastatic Colorectal Cancer: Individual Patient Pooled Analysis of Three Cohort Studies. Int J Cancer 2020, doi: 10.1002/ijc.33312.
  • Lahouel K, Younes L, Danilova L, Giardiello FM, Hruban RH, Groopman J, Kinzler KW, Vogelstein B, Geman D, Tomasetti C. Revisiting the tumorigenesis timeline with a data-driven generative model. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2020, 117(2): 857-864.