CTCs: From Invention to Diagnostics

Held in conjunction with Circulating Tumor Cells

01 Feb 2012, at 1:30-5:30pm in San Diego

Other workshop faculty who will be present:

Prof. Randy Berholtz, JD, PhD, T. Jefferson School of Law
Prof. Charles Cantor, PhD, UC Berkeley
Dr Jane Hutchinson, Roche.

Who Should Attend

The course is suitable for:
physicians, who would like to proceed with streamlining new ideas of CTC diagnostics to clinics;
investigators, who would like to protect their inventions and proceed their inclusion into pre-clinical trials;
attorneys who would like to learn what happens before they see a draft of a patent;
managers of corporations, who would like to learn an overview of process from invention to diagnostics.

Learning Objectives
The participants can be assured to learn:
the basic mechanisms of cancer metastasis
the role of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) or disseminating cancer cells (DCCs) in metastasis;
basic techniques of isolating CTCs from blood, lymph, and physiological fluids;
molecular signatures of CTCs;
basic bioinformatics to correlate the molecular profiles with clinical data;
the basic regulations governing inclusion of human cells for research;
the FDA regulations leaading towards clearance and/or approval.

Topics and Course Organisation
1h.
The basic mechanisms of cancer metastasis:
susceptibility
carcinogenesis
dissemination
cancer in situ
metastasis
the role of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) or disseminating cancer cells (DCCs) in metastasis.

2h.
Overview of methods of the CTCs isolation.
Single cells and clonal expansions.
Genomic WGA and NGS (Illumina and 454).
Native and Western blots.
Nested RT PCR, transcriptome analysis.
Antibodies and scFv.
Mass spec.

3h.
Helsinki Declaration.
WHO.
FDA regulations.