Researchers at Johns Hopkins have found a new method to help detect pancreatic cancer.

A 3D print of precancerous cells found in a human pancreas was created using a method called Coda, the first ever 3D genome profiling technique.

"What we did here is look at tissue in 3D and then map the genetic alterations onto that 3D model," Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Associate Professor of Pathology and Oncology Dr. Laura Wood said.

Never before have researchers been able to analyze precancers in this much detail.

These precancers don't show up on traditional radiology exams, that's why it's difficult to detect pancreatic cancer early.

Researchers say what they're learning from this technology could eventually teach doctors how to spot the cancer sooner.

Researchers start with microscopic slides, each with a pancreas sample.

"We scan all of those slides so you have thousands of images," Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Assistant Professor of Pathology Dr. Ashley Kiemen said.

Engineers use a combination of AI and coding.

"[They] make these beautiful visualizations to map the tissue," Dr. Kiemen said.

Then pathologists perform DNA sequencing to examine the cells and learn how some mutate into full-blown cancer.

"What are the features of these precancers that are more likely to progress? So then we know which ones to intervene on," Dr. Wood said.

Another key finding, most people have these precancers in our pancreas. So, researchers are exploring how it only becomes cancer in some of us.

The researchers are also now exploring whether this technique can help identify precancers in other organs as well.