Scientists use genetics to dig into a tumor’s past

For patients with some types of cancer, diagnosis can happen at an advanced stage. While a tumor grows unnoticed, it accumulates hundreds to thousands of mutations, making it difficult for scientists studying late-stage cancers to figure out which ones contributed to tumor growth at the earlier stages of cancer. Knowing more about the genetic events that take place during the progression to cancer can help scientists engineer more realistic cell and animal models of the disease and even develop better ways to detect and treat it early.