November 7, 2017
11 am to 12 pm EDT

Sponsored by

Webinar Description:

Recent advances in clinical genomics diagnostic and bioinformatics technology have made repeatable, minimally invasive assays for tumor genotyping a reality. Today, expectations are high for molecular oncology labs to integrate liquid biopsy technology into their test menus as a diagnostic and for therapy guidance (CDx).

To achieve the full clinical potential of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) biomarkers, laboratories must be able to achieve very high specificity measuring a range of actionable variants, including a multitude of gene-specific SNVs, insertions, deletions, and structural variants. Their assays must be robust and extremely sensitive in order to measure the very low variant allelic frequencies (<0.2%) found circulating in a complex medium like blood. These lofty performance goals must be met while keeping validation costs low and operating costs competitive – at the same time, robust QC monitoring must be ensured.

Learning Objectives:

• How to leverage the latest ctDNA tools
• How to design and validate liquid biopsy assays with an eye toward potential future guidelines and regulations
• Approaches to technology selection

Speakers:

Tony E Godfrey, PhD

Associate Chair, Surgical Research and Professor of Surgery

Boston University School of Medicine

Dr. Godfrey’s research is focused on cancer genetics and molecular pathology. His research projects use state-of-the-art genetic and genomic approaches to address clinical needs in the areas of cancer diagnosis, prognosis and therapy. Currently, the major focus of Dr. Godfrey’s research is on Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma. The Godfrey lab works closely with translational research teams comprised of surgeons, pathologists, and oncologists in order to develop new molecular approaches to cancer detection, staging, and treatment.

Margaret Gulley, MD

Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

University of North Carolina School of Medicine

The Gulley Lab studies virus-related malignancies including lymphoma and carcinomas (nasopharyngeal, oropharyngeal and gastric), as well as premalignant lesions and non-invasive tests of neoplasia. Molecular and immunologic techniques are used to evaluate viral gene expression and to evaluate interactions between viral and cellular gene products. A related focus of clinical research is to advance the use of genomic technology in diagnostic pathology, with the aim of improving outcomes for patients with cancer, heritable disease, and infectious disease.

Gregory Tsongalis, PhD

Professor of Pathology and Director, Clinical Genomics and Advanced Technology, Department of Pathology

Geisel School of Medicine, Dartmouth College

Dr. Tsongalis is a leading investigator in molecular oncology and clinical genomics and is a past President of the Association of Molecular Pathology. Dr. Tsongalis’ research includes developing novel technologies and approaches for biomarker discovery and molecular pathology using NGS and other advanced technologies. Dr. Tsongalis’ clinical lab focuses on DNA and RNA testing for oncology, pharmacogenomics, and genetic disease testing.

Russell Garlick, PhD

Chief Scientific Officer

SeraCare Life Sciences

Dr. Garlick is an experienced executive scientific and R&D leader from the life science industry with over 30 years of experience. At SeraCare, he has led scientific efforts into designing and developing clinical genomics products through scientific collaborations and technology transfer with clinical research opinion leaders in the areas of oncology, fetal maternal medicine, inherited diseases, infectious diseases, and for new QC approaches applied to next-generation sequencing assays.