Beyond ctDNA:
EVPs and the Future of Early Cancer Detection
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About this webinar
Liquid biopsy has made it possible to detect and characterize cancer from a blood sample, with much of the field focused on circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). Detection in early-stage disease remains challenging, because ctDNA release appears to depend substantially on cell death, meaning small or slowly proliferating tumors may shed relatively little DNA into circulation. This webinar explores how extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs) offer another route to accessing tumor-derived molecular information for early cancer detection.
EVPs are shed continuously by living cells and carry proteins, nucleic acids and other molecular cargo that reflect their cell of origin. However, because healthy cells also shed EVPs in far greater quantities, distinguishing tumor-derived vesicles from the normal background remains a key challenge.
This webinar explores EVPs as a new class of liquid biopsy analytes for early cancer detection. The featured speaker will discuss EVP biology, how they differ from other liquid biopsy analytes and the rationale for measuring multiple cancer-associated biomarkers colocalized on individual EVPs rather than measuring each biomarker independently.
The featured speaker will examine how identifying combinations of cancer-associated biomarkers on the same EVP may improve specificity. Individual biomarkers are rarely specific to cancer on their own, but requiring multiple cancer-associated markers on the same particle creates a much rarer biological signature.
Ovarian and lung cancer programs will illustrate how this approach is being evaluated across cancer types and clinical settings, including a blinded evaluation of prospectively collected samples from a randomized screening trial. The featured speaker will discuss the scientific rationale, evidence generated to date and remaining questions as EVP-based diagnostics continue to develop.
Register for this webinar to learn how EVPs could expand liquid biopsy beyond ctDNA and support earlier cancer detection.
Who should attend
- Scientific leaders in liquid biopsy, cancer diagnostics and biomarker development
- Executives and Business Development leaders at cancer diagnostics and biomarker companies
- Healthcare, Biotechnology and Diagnostics Investors and Analysts
- Gynecologic Oncologists
- OB/GYN Clinical leaders
- Cancer Screening Program leaders
What you will learn
- How EVPs differ from ctDNA and other liquid biopsy analytes
- Why biomarker colocalization may provide useful biological context
- How EVP-based approaches could support early cancer detection
- What ovarian and lung programs demonstrate, including current evidence and remaining questions
Featured Speakers
Toumy Guettouche, PhD
Toumy Guettouche, PhD, is Chief Scientific Officer of Mercy BioAnalytics, where he leads research and development and computational biology across the company’s ovarian and lung cancer programs. His current work focuses on blood-based cancer detection using extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs), including Mercy’s Halo platform, which measures colocalized cancer-associated biomarkers on individual EVPs. Dr. Guettouche has more than two decades of experience in genomics, proteomics, molecular diagnostics and technology development.
Prior to Mercy, he was Head of Product Development at Scale Biosciences and held scientific leadership roles at Roche Sequencing and GRAIL, developing and commercializing technologies for cancer diagnostics and single-cell analysis. He has contributed to multiple LDT launches and US FDA IVD applications and has led product launches in automation, target enrichment and single-cell analysis. Earlier, he directed genomics, sequencing and biorepository programs at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, where he also served on the faculty of the Department of Genetics. Dr. Guettouche earned his PhD in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of Miami School of Medicine. He is an author of numerous peer-reviewed publications and an inventor of patents in genomics, proteomics and molecular diagnostics.
Partner for this event
Mercy BioAnalytics
Mercy BioAnalytics, Inc. is on a mission to relieve suffering and save lives through the early detection of cancer. Early-stage cancer is difficult to detect, but when found, is more often amenable to curative therapy. Mercy’s patented Mercy Halo™ liquid biopsy platform utilizes biomarker colocalization to interrogate highly abundant, blood-based extracellular vesicles and particles that carry unique cancer signatures from their parent cells. Mercy’s initial focus is the early detection of ovarian and lung cancers.