Singapore Researchers Use AI to Advance Cancer Healthcare

Singapore scientists working to transform cancer care have created an AI tool, Fragle, enabling physicians to conduct a precise, inexpensive and regular ctDNA analysis in the blood.

In the healthcare sector, researchers at the ASTAR Genome Institute of Singapore (ASTAR GIS) have unveiled an AI-based tool termed "Fragle," which is all set to revolutionize care practice in cancer. Using tiny amounts of blood, Fragle monitors the presence of circulating cancer DNA (ctDNA) in patients to enable better and less expensive monitoring of responses to cancer therapies.

The study has been published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, and it sheds light on how Fragle can use deep learning to study the DNA fragment sizes. In contrast to the cost of conventional ctDNA testing of up to 780 dollars (SGD 1000), Fragle results are available at the rate of 39 dollars (SGD 50) and enhance affordability in the healthcare system.

The health innovation is undergoing development with more than 100 patients in partnership with the National Cancer Centre Singapore. The AI tool offers a lot of potential to assist in the early detection of relapse and the measurement of the effectiveness of the treatment and is thus highly likely to become a valuable asset to current healthcare workflows.

Researchers assume that Fragle will become a popular practice in hospitals, as it helps to implement precision medicine and improve the delivery of healthcare all over the world.