Molecular diagnostics have revolutionized healthcare by enabling scientists and healthcare professions to identify disease with higher sensitivity while also elucidating specific mechanisms of disease progression. Unfortunately, the complexity associated with these tests severely hinders their implementation in regions where resources are limited. Thus, there is a current unmet need for simple molecular diagnostics that can be deployed in the most remote healthcare settings at minimal cost. Further, we have also demonstrated that simplification can ultimately unlock new functionalities in molecular analysis, thus advancing our endeavor to understand the most complex diseases, including cancer.