Imagine Spartan Stadium packed with 75,000 fans, all wearing green and white jerseys — except one person in a solid green shirt. Finding that person would be tough. That’s how hard it is for scientists to find disease markers — called biomarkers — in the blood. And instead of one stadium, researchers must search through the equivalent of 100,000 stadiums worth of information.

To tackle this challenge, a research team from Michigan State University, working with scientists from Augusta University, Karolinska Institute and Stanford University, used nanomedicine, artificial intelligence, or AI, and a method for studying cause and effect.

Their goal was to find rare biomarkers for prostate cancer that has spread, and a condition called atherosclerosis, which causes clogged arteries. Their research findings were recently published in the Chemical Engineering Journal.