Cambridge Healthtech Institute:Inaugural Clinical Application of Cell Free DNA

The isolation, sequencing and evaluation of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) for a variety of applications will be reviewed and the clinical utility of these new methods will be considered. The source of cell free DNA, methods to analyze it and use in clinical protocols will be measured against competing approaches such as circulating tumor cells.
Cell free circulating DNA is being used to monitor disease recurrence, as a non invasive technique for prenatal testing and as a surrogate biomarker for cancer. Characterizing cancer based on genomic profiling of cfDNA will allow greater understanding of the biology and our ability to diagnose and treat it more effectively.