Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection
Support the Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection
Philanthropic support is critical to realizing our vision of a technological revolution that could significantly decrease the burden of cancer on our society.
To learn more about how you can support the Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection, please contact Carrie Powers in the Mass General Development Office at (617) 643-9678 or cpowers5@partners.org.
Explore the Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection
Overview
The Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center established the Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection (CIECD) to increase the development of new cancer-detecting technologies. By bringing together dedicated scientists and clinicians from Mass General, Harvard Medical School and the entire Boston biomedical community, the center seeks to pair cancer detection technologies with clinical resources – with the goal of improving early cancer detection and treatment, leading to increased cures for patients around the world.
Most cancers are detected after people experience symptoms that cause them to seek medical evaluation. This often means that cancers are diagnosed when they are locally invasive or already metastatic, and no longer treatable with simple surgery or radiation treatment. Current strategies for cancer screening are limited both by their lack of sensitivity and specificity. As applied to very early cancers, which are most likely to be curable, there is an urgent need to distinguish between invasive and less invasive lesions, to avoid overtreatment and its associated risks and costs.
Under the direction of Lecia V. Sequist, MD, MPH, and with support from Mass General Cancer Center Director Daniel A. Haber, MD, PhD, the CIECD will cultivate collaboration across disciplines and lead to new avenues of innovation. Through a strong infrastructure that will include expert leadership from diverse fields, dedicated research staff, and shared resources and databases, the CIECD will increase efficiency in both early pilot work and subsequent large-scale clinical trials, speeding the delivery of new cancer diagnosis technologies.
Emerging Technologies
We now stand to transform cancer screening and diagnostics with new technologies, moving away from relying on traditional radiology imaging and blood protein markers, toward molecular blood-based signatures that could potentially be more sensitive and reliable as diagnostic options.
- A Mass General research team has developed the most sensitive, specific and automated technology available for isolating circulating tumor cells (CTCs), rare cancer cells present in the blood of patients who have invasive cancers. However, the most promising clinical application of CTC technologies is their use to detect cancer early, before it spreads to other parts of the body. Researchers are now conducting “proof of concept” clinical studies in several cancers, including prostate cancer and lung cancer, where the current screening methods are not specific enough, as well as pancreatic cancer, where no screening test currently exists.
- In addition to technologies developed by Mass General-led teams, a wide array of technologies is emerging in both academic and commercial settings that are primed for testing and validation in a clinical research environment. These include additional blood-based measurements such as circulating plasma DNA and exosomes, as well as urine-based diagnostics.
- We are also exploring an array of complementary strategies that are focused on molecular imaging using tumor-specific markers, including nanoparticle probes, as well as developing sophisticated analysis sensors, such as high-resolution optical imaging.
Uniquely Positioned
The Mass General Cancer Center is uniquely positioned to lead a major effort in developing innovative diagnostics for early cancer detection. We will leverage several distinct features, including:
- A track record of success in building cross-disciplinary, translational research efforts that have led to a change in approach to cancer diagnostics and therapeutics.
- A core group of cancer investigators with established collaborations in cancer diagnostics, with both academic labs and companies.
- An integrated team of primary care and disease-focused specialists and biostatisticians with an interest in cancer screening and early detection.
- Our location at the hub of the world’s most dynamic innovation ecosystem that includes MIT, Harvard, the Broad, Kendall Square, and dozens of industry-leading biotech and pharmaceutical companies.
Meet the Team
Leadership:
- Lecia V. Sequist, MD, MPH
Director, Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection - Daniel A. Haber, MD, PhD
Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center
Internal Advisory Board:
- James A. Brink, MD
Chair, Department of Radiology - Keith D. Lillemoe, MD
Chair, Department of Surgery - David N. Louis, MD
Chief, Department of Pathology - David P. Ryan, MD
Chief, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Clinical Director, Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center - Steven J. Skates, PhD
Investigator, Biostatistics Center - Mehmet Toner, PhD
Director, BioMicroElectroMechanical Systems (BioMEMS) Resource Center
Leadership
The Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection is led by Lecia V. Sequist, MD, MPH.
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- Director, Cancer Center
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- Director of Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection
- Landry Family Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School
Videos
Learn how the Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection is focused on increasing the development of new cancer-detecting technologies, and hear about their important Fire Health Study, a partnership with the Boston Fire Department to help screen firefighters for cancer.
Mass General Cancer Center's Dr. Lecia Sequist sits down with Kiss 108's Billy Costa to discuss the importance of early detection.
Meet a group of physician-scientists who are working in the lab and in the clinic to change the ways in which we are able to detect and treat cancer earlier in our patients.
The Pancreatic Cancer Collective is proud to introduce the SU2C-Lustgarten Foundation Pancreatic Cancer Interception Research Team. Pancreatic is probably the most difficult cancer that is treated in the GI tract.
One of the problems with lung cancer is that it often gets diagnosed when it’s too late to be cured. This team is finding way to intercept earlier at a time when the cancer is localized.
News
Early Cancer Detection Outlook is Bright
By bringing together patients and innovators, Lecia Sequist, MD, MPH, is advancing the field of early detection to identify cancers earlier, when the chance of cure is greatest.

Channeling the Future of Early Cancer Detection
In labs across Mass General, researchers are guiding patient blood samples through the tiny channels of an innovative device that could open doors to faster, easier cancer detection.

Early Cancer Detection Inspires Patient’s Giving
Feeling fortunate that his own lung cancer was detected early, a veteran yachtsman supports the innovative work of Mass General’s Center for Innovation in Early Cancer Detection.

Donors Help Launch Early Cancer Detection Center
A stroke of luck leaves a lung cancer survivor ready to advance research for early cancer detection.

participated in Clinical Trials at the Mass General Cancer Center last year
This helped lead to new knowledge and breakthrough therapies.
Center for Cancer Research
The scientific engine for discovery for the Mass General Cancer Center.
Termeer Center for Targeted Therapies
The Termeer Center offers a comprehensive translational research program to speed the discovery and delivery of new targeted therapies to patients.
Contact the Mass General Cancer Center
Contact us to make an appointment or to learn more about our programs.