World-First Screening for Cancer Risk in Australia

Chilean Josefina Sandoval opens a DNA test kit in Santiago, on June 10, 2018. Sandoval is looking for her daughter who was born on June 24, 1980, during Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship, which saw the irregular adoption of thousands of children who were sent abroad. CLAUDIO REYES/AFP via Getty Images

The Australian government is launching a world-first DNA screening study with the aim of detecting increased risk of some cancers and heart disease.

Melbourne’s Monash University will lead a national screening program of at least 10,000 people aged 18-40, who will be tested for genes that increase the risk of certain types of cancers and heart disease that often go undetected.