The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood

problem is that it’s so hard to detect, we are only able to
diagnose it very late in the game. At that point, the cancer has
already spread so widely, most treatments can’t do much to
counteract it. But if diagnosis were faster—”
“People could get treatment sooner and have a higher
chance of survival,” Tom said, nodding a bit impatiently. “Yep,
I’m well aware. We already have some screening tools,
though. Like imaging.”
She wasn’t surprised he brought it up, since imaging was
what Tom’s lab focused on. “Yes, but that’s expensive, timeconsuming,
and often not useful because of the pancreas’s
position. But . . .” She took another deep breath. “I think I
have found a set of biomarkers. Not from tissue biopsy—
blood biomarkers. Noninvasive, easy to obtain. Cheap. In mice
they can detect pancreatic cancer as early as stage one.”
She paused. Tom and Adam were both staring at her. Tom
was clearly interested, and Adam looked . . . a little weird, to
be honest. Impressed, maybe? Nah, impossible.
“Okay. This sounds promising. What’s the next step?”
“Collecting more data. Running more analyses with better
equipment to prove that my set of biomarkers is worthy of a
clinical trial. But for that I need a larger lab.”
“I see.” He nodded with a thoughtful expression and then
leaned back in his chair. “Why pancreatic cancer?”
“It’s one of the most lethal, and we know so little about
how—”
“No,” Tom interrupted. “Most third-year Ph.D. students are
too busy infighting over the centrifuge to come up with their
own line of research. There must be a reason you’re so
motivated. Did someone close to you have cancer?”
Olive swallowed before reluctantly answering, “Yes.”