Prostate Cancer & Computational Biology: The Future of Cancer Diagnosis – Patrick McDeed

SciantsMedia

Cancer is constantly evolving. The challenge for clinicians is keeping up with those changes quickly enough to make better treatment decisions.

In this episode, Balint of SciAnts_Streams speaks with Patrick McDeed about liquid biopsies, circulating tumor DNA, and the emerging technologies that allow researchers to monitor cancer through a simple blood sample.

McDeed explains how tumors shed DNA into the bloodstream and how computational methods can identify tumor-derived fragments among vast amounts of normal cell-free DNA. The discussion explores biomarker discovery, epigenetics, whole-genome sequencing, tumor evolution, and the use of cancer phylogenetics to reconstruct how tumors adapt under treatment pressure.

A major theme is precision oncology. Rather than relying solely on a single tissue biopsy, liquid biopsy approaches allow researchers to repeatedly monitor disease progression, evaluate treatment response, detect residual disease after surgery, and potentially identify recurrence earlier than traditional methods.

The episode also examines research into advanced prostate cancer, where McDeed’s team uses genomic data to understand why some patients fail to respond to targeted therapies. Their findings reveal that resistance can emerge through mechanisms more complex than originally predicted, highlighting why continuous monitoring of tumor biology is critical for effective treatment planning.

Along the way, listeners gain insight into how computational biology, statistics, artificial intelligence, and genomics are reshaping cancer research. The result is a thoughtful exploration of how data-driven medicine is moving oncology toward a future where treatment decisions are informed not by a single snapshot of a tumor, but by a continuous understanding of how that tumor changes over time.

Recorded On 06/29/26

Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Information and links:
Fred Hutch Obliterate Fundraiser: https://www.obliteride.org/
Ways to give to Fred Hutch: https://www.fredhutch.org/en/ways-to-give.html
Dr. McDeed ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3380-4112