Abstract

The Unique Challenges and Opportunities of Circulating Tumor DNA

Alex Lovejoy, Principal Scientist, Roche Sequencing Solutions

Despite the promise of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) as a minimally invasive biomarker, the detection and quantification of small amounts of ctDNA in a plasma sample is a difficult problem.  Limited input molecules, background noise, and cost of sequencing are all challenges that hinder the implementation of assays for ctDNA detection.  This talk will describe these difficulties in detail, as well as the development of the Roche AVENIO ctDNA Analysis Kits (Research Use Only), which have been specifically designed to overcome these challenges.