Conference Day 1 | June 26, 2025

Explore our Conference Day One Agenda for the Liquid Biopsy for Precision Oncology East Coast Summit!

8:00 am Morning Registration & Light Breakfast

8:50 am Chairs Opening Remarks

  • Minakshi Guha Associate Director, LBx Strategy Lead, Takeda Pharmaceutical

Breaking Barriers to Real-World Impact Regardless of Disease Areas: Standardizing, Scaling & Strengthening Liquid Biopsy Utility

9:00 am Advancing Collaboration and Alignment in Liquid Biopsy Surveillance: Insights from BLOODPAC

Synopsis

  • Showcasing strategic approaches to strengthen collaboration across the liquid biopsy community
  • Highlighting the standardized lexicons to unify terminology and practices in the field

Updated Information

9:30 am Unveiling Blind Spots: Pitfalls of Conventional Liquid Biopsy Testing

  • Brennan Decker Senior Pathologist, Director - Medical, Clinical Biomarkers & Translational Genomics Innovation, Foundation Medicine

Synopsis

  • Bridge the gap in trial design with Liquid Biopsy for treatment selection & monitoring  
  • Uncover risks of misinterpreting Liquid Biopsy results with clonal hematopoiesis & copy loss calling
  • Unify the journey from biomarker discovery to commercialization with Companion Diagnostic expertise

10:00 am Diagnostic Landscape in Rare Diseases: Strategies to Improve Patient’s Journey & Outcomes

Synopsis

  • Challenges of diagnosis in rare diseases therapeutic areas and clinical trials designs
  • Insights into development and validation of diagnostics strategies, adoption and impact
  • Identifying collaboration and harmonizing global access to improve diagnostic guidelines and patients care

Rare Disease

10:30 am Speed Networking Session

Synopsis

As the Liquid Biopsy community unites again, this valuable session will ensure that you can connect with your peers in the room to make new and lasting connections. All attendees will have the opportunity to meet and network with their industry peers.

Harnessing ctDNA-Driven Monitoring to Drive Earlier Therapeutic Decisions & Optimize Trial Readouts

11:30 am Integrating Biomarker Insights to Guide Dose Selection & Monitor Therapeutic Response in Immuno-Oncology

  • Radha Ramesh Oncology, Clinical Biomarker lead, Takeda Pharmaceutical

Synopsis

  • How iitune-1 trial utilizes comprehensive biomarker analysis to guide dose selection
  • How plasma biomarkers, RNA seq analysis contribute to evaluating innate and adaptive immune responses
  • Retrospective analysis into how ctDNA changes correlate with clinical outcomes, to provide insights in its value in monitoring therapeutic efficacy

Immuno-Oncology

12:00 pm Leveraging Ultra-sensitive MRD, RWD & Global Scale to Enable ctDNA-guided Drug Development

Synopsis

  • Natera is a pioneer in molecular disease monitoring, offering a market-leading portfolio of ultra-sensitive assays (down to 1ppm), real-world data, and integrated trial support
  • Explore how Natera’s commercial footprint, global trial infrastructure, and scientific expertise enable scalable execution of ctDNA-guided trials
  • Delve into Natera’s expanding portfolio, recent clinical evidence, and strategic vision for advancing drug development

12:30 pm Panel Discussion: Unlocking the Full Potential of Tissue-Free, Methylation-Based Liquid Biopsies to Redefine Monitoring

Synopsis

  • The logistical and clinical limitations of tissue-informed methods, including time to treatment, tissue availability, and turnaround time
  • How methylation signatures may offer higher sensitivity and broader applicability than variant tracking alone
  • Considerations for clinical validation, regulatory frameworks, and payer acceptance of tissue-free MRD solutions

1:00 pm Lunch & Networking Break

Advancing MRD as a Surrogate Endpoint to Streamline Trial Readouts in Hematology

2:00 pm Panel Discussion: Advancing MRD as a Surrogate Endpoint to Streamline Trial Readouts in Hematology Oncology

  • Jeffrey Gregg Vice President - Medical Affairs, Foresight Diagnostics Inc.
  • Joshua Levin Director - Precision Medicine & Digital Health, GlaxoSmithKline
  • Yuliya Katlinskaya Sr Principal Scientist, Amgen Inc.
  • Nathan Martin Director - Precision Medicine, Regeneron Pharmaceuticals
  • Diana Vega Senior Director - Cancer Biomarker Development, AstraZeneca

Synopsis

  • Optimizing MRD as a surrogate endpoint in oncology trials
  • Navigating FDA and regulatory expectations around novel endpoints
  • Building successful diagnostic-pharma collaborations to pioneer future trial designs

2:30 pm Next-Gen MRD: Increasing Access to Ultrasensitive ctDNA Assessment for Biomarker Discovery, Development, & CDx Programs

  • Patrick Eimerman Vice President - Business Development and Partnerships, Saga Diagnostics AB

Synopsis

  • The Pathlight MRD test is an ultrasensitive, cost-effective approach to MRD detection and quantification to <1 PPM using WGS proprietary dPCR methods to track structural variants
  • Structural Variants (SVs) are highly prevalent across indications and are an ideal pancancer biomarker for determining MRD status
  • Clinical studies in breast and ovarian cancers demonstrate improved detection of ctDNA at baseline, during neoadjuvant treatment, post-surgery, and during follow-up, with long lead times to clinical relapse

3:00 pm FNIH MMyeRisk Project: Defining Biomarkers to Stratify Patients at Risk of Developing Multiple Myeloma from MGUS & Smoldering Myeloma

Synopsis

  • Pre-competitive consortia built of varied stakeholders can have an outsize impact
  • The FNIH has had success in hematology, specifically in evaluating MRD in ALL, AML, and MM
  • Our latest effort, the MMyeRisk project, brings together 8 partners who are working to define biomarkers predictive of progression from MGUS/SMM to Multiple Myeloma

Hematology

3:30 pm Afternoon Networking Break

Building a Multimodal Diagnostic Future: Integrating Imaging, Liquid Biopsy & Molecular Pathology to Drive Clinical Decision-Making

4:00 pm Bridging the Gap of the Role of Molecular Pathologists in Advancing Liquid Biopsy for Precision Oncology

Synopsis

  • How can molecular pathologists collaborate more effectively with biopharma and oncologists to optimize biomarker-driven clinical trials and improve treatment decision-making?
  • What are the key challenges in ensuring molecular pathologists play a central role in determining when and how liquid biopsy should be integrated into clinical workflows, and how can their involvement be enhanced?
  • How can digital pathology, molecular techniques, and AI strengthen the role of pathologists in integrating multi-omics and clinical data in patient stratification and resistance monitoring through liquid biopsy applications?

Pathology

4:30 pm ctDNA Analysis Enhances MRI-Based (RECIST) Assessment of Response in Clinical Trial of Second-Line Advanced HCC

  • David Wurtman Chief Business Officer, Geneos Therapeutics, Inc.

Synopsis

  • ctDNA highlights molecular responses to resolve lack of clarity from MRI images alone
  • Combining ctDNA with MRI allows for broader, and earlier, detection of response in second-line advanced HCC to enhance clinical trial readout
  • ctDNA-guided monitoring supports ongoing personalized treatment to improve optimize patient outcomes by elucidating potential basis for immune escape and offering design guidance for updated therapeutics

Personalized Cancer Vaccines

5:00 pm Chair’s Closing Remarks

  • Minakshi Guha Associate Director, LBx Strategy Lead, Takeda Pharmaceutical

5:05 pm End of Conference Day One

5:15 pm Networking Drinks Reception

Synopsis

Enjoy a cold beverage as you relax into the evening with connections, new and old.