Nikesh Kotecha, PhD, has developed a new method of diagnosing juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia , or JMML. Currently, diagnosis of this rare disease is a lengthy process that involves ruling out other common infections. The presence of the cells responsible for JMML must then be confirmed with a cell culture that takes three weeks on average. Now Kotecha, the lead author of the study who conducted this research as a BMI graduate student, has developed a blood assay that gives results in less than a day, can be done on blood from anywhere in the body, and allows for faster, more effective treatment. The study is featured on the cover of the Oct. 7 issue of Cancer Cell. The new assay measures the response of cells to a specific protein to find the degree of advancement of JMML. A bone marrow transplant is the only current treatment for JMML, and this new assay allows treatment to begin sooner, and the progress of the disease to be tracked during treatment. “We couldn’t have done this research without involving immunology, signaling biology, medicine, statistics and informatics,” Kotecha said. Additionally, researchers have started a Web-enabled framework at Cytobank.org to manage, analyze and collaborate on this data. For more details, read the study or the Stanford Press Release.