Yuxuan Wang and Lukasz Gondek spearheaded the work on MRD detection by tracking up to 96 different mutations in patients with AML. Detecting 96 mutations, that included both driver and passenger genes, vastly increased MRD sensitivity. This revealed how AML disease burden changes during allogeneic bone marrow transplantations, mainly,

1. all AML patients though to be in 'remission' before transplant actually had residual leukemia

2. in 90% patients, the residual leukemia persisted for up to two months after transplant, when patients were under immunosuppression to prevent GVHD

3. residual leukemia slowly dissipated after 2 months and remained suppressed in patients that experienced long term remission

https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2537987123

Perspective on this study by Mark Levis https://ashpublications.org/bloodadvances/article/10/16/5692/570150