On Jan. 13, 2021, researchers announced they had developed a blood test that could make it possible for doctors to detect – then quickly prevent or slow down – acute heart transplant rejection, a potentially deadly condition that occurs in the early months after a patient has received a donor heart. They estimate that the test could eliminate up to 80% of invasive heart tissue biopsies currently used to detect rejection.

The study was primarily funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute and was published in Circulation, a publication of the American Heart Association.