June 23, 2015
1 pm to 2 pm EDT

Sponsored by

Webinar Description:

Liquid biopsies via ctDNA have recently garnered plenty of attention and interest. While most liquid biopsy discussions have revolved around identifying driver mutations using ctDNA from blood, the focus of this symposium is to review current CLIA tests that use ctDNA from urine samples. These test are used for multiple clinical applications including detection of actionable cancer mutations with ultra-sensitivity, monitoring mutation burden over time and to provide immediate information regarding response to cancer therapy.

Learning Objectives:

• How liquid biopsies may transform the standard of care
• Why urine is the optimal sample for liquid biopsies
• Understanding the technology behind Trovagene’s ultra-sensitive liquid biopsy
• That monitoring response to therapy via urinary ctDNA in lung cancer can help physicians to predict radiographic response
• That monitoring response to therapy via ctDNA KRAS helps physicians to predict survival in pancreatic cancer

Who Should Attend:

• Oncologists
• Pathologists
• Translational Medicine
• Directors of Personalized Medicine Programs
• Companion Diagnostics

Speakers:

Mark Erlander, Ph.D.

Chief Scientific Officer, R&D

Trovagene, Inc.

Session: A Highly Sensitive Urine-based Biomarker Detection Platform; Precision Cancer Monitoring

Mark Erlander has more than 18 years of experience directing and leading research and development for gene discovery, with a strong focus on molecular diagnostics.

Since 2012, Dr. Erlander has also served as Chief Scientific Officer of Gensignia, Inc., a lung cancer diagnostics company. Prior to joining Trovagene, Dr. Erlander was chief scientific officer at bioTheranostics, a bioMerieux company. Previously, Dr. Erlander was a group leader and subsequently a research fellow at the R.W. Johnson Pharmaceutical Research Institute (Johnson & Johnson). He was also an assistant member and postdoctoral fellow at The Scripps Research Institute in the Department of Molecular Biology.

Dr. Erlander holds a BS degree in Biochemistry from the University of California, Davis; an MS degree in Biochemistry from Iowa State University; and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Dr. Erlander is an accomplished researcher with 32 issued U.S. patents and 38 U.S. patent applications, and is a lead or contributing author on more than 70 scientific papers and review articles.

Hatim Husain, MD

Division of Hematology-Oncology

Moores UCSD Cancer Center

Session: Kinetic Monitoring of EGFR mutations in Urinary Circulating Tumor DNA Predicts Radiographic Progression and Response in Patients with Metastatic Lung Adenocarcinoma

Dr Husain received his medical degree from the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Illinois. He completed his internal medicine residency at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, and an oncology fellowship at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

He has published articles in peer-reviewed journals including Nature Cell Biology, Oncology, Pharmacogenetics, Annals of Oncology, Clinical Cancer Research, Pharmacogenetics and Genomics, the Journal of Neuro-Oncology, and the Journal of Clinical Oncology, among others.

His research focuses on novel cancer therapeutic strategies in solid tumors, specifically lung cancer, with an emphasis on the epithelial growth factor receptor and non-invasive cancer detection strategies.

Vlada Meklinov, MD, Ph.D.

Vice President, R&D

Trovagene, Inc.

Session: Dynamics of KRAS G12/13 Allele Burden in Circulating Tumor DNA Predicts Survival in Patients with Unresectable Pancreatic Cancer Undergoing Palliative Chemotherapy

Dr. Melnikova brings over 16 years of experience in translational research and oncology molecular diagnostics development, including 10 years of experience in molecular biology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston and six years of experience in liquid biopsy based molecular diagnostics and medical device development. Prior to joining Trovagene in 2014, Vlada was Vice President, Laboratory Services at Transgenomic, Inc. Previously, she held positions of increasing responsibility in Research and Development at ApoCell, Inc. During her tenure at MD Anderson Cancer Center, Dr. Melnikova was an Instructor in the Department of Cancer Biology and was also a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Immunology.

Dr. Melnikova has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications and reviews and presented data at multiple national and international scientific meetings. Dr. Melnikova received a M.D. from Russian State Medical University and received a Ph.D. in Biological Engineering from University Henri Poincare Nancy I, France.

Cost: No cost