Non-invasive diagnostic tools like blood tests are needed to enable early detection of disease to save lives. But development of these tests is challenging due to very low signal to noise ratio of blood biomarkers. We are developing a tool for blood-based diagnostics to overcome this issue called the indicator cell assay platform (iCAP). The assay uses standardized cells as biosensors that detect and respond to signals in patient blood, and machine learning tools to predict the disease state of the patients from the gene expression responses of the cells. The assay transforms the challenging task of identifying and detecting very low abundance blood biomarkers of disease into the well-established practice of measuring cell culture responses in vitro. Our vision is to develop pan-cancer iCAP panels for cancer screening to improve patient outcome. We are currently developing iCAPs for the early detection of lung cancer and Alzheimer's disesae.