Lay summary
Colorectal cancer (CRC) death rates are particularly high in Aotearoa New Zealand and are increasing in younger people (age <50 years) and Māori, who are more likely to present with advanced stage of disease. Prognosis and survival of CRC patients rely heavily on the stage at diagnosis. Therefore, there is an urgent need for accessible and easily clinically-deployable biomarkers that enable early diagnosis and improve CRC outcome. Recent work demonstrates that DNA methylation patterns could be used as a powerful tool for highly specific and highly sensitive early tumour detection. We aim to use unbiased whole genome-scale analysis to identify DNA methylation markers in the blood that can be used for minimally invasive early detection of CRC patients. In the future, our work will contribute further to enhanced surveillance for relapse and treatment response to improve CRC outcomes in New Zealand.