Widespread study of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) began in the early 2000s. Since then, the goal has been to replace expensive and invasive surgical biopsies with relatively simple and inexpensive CTC-based liquid biopsies. However, the translation of CTC-based liquid biopsy technology from research labs to the clinic has been moving…

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) plans to use Natera's Signatera custom circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) assay in a Phase II study designed to assess the pharma giant’s cancer immunotherapy Opdivo (nivolumab) as an adjuvant treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Under the collaboration, whose value was not disclosed, BMS will use…

Signaling growing interest in personalized oncology treatments as well as diagnostics, Roche plans a $2.4 billion acquisition that will expand its majority stake in Foundation Medicine into full ownership of the cancer-focused molecular diagnostics developer. Under the deal, Roche and Foundation Medicine said, they plan to combine their expertise in…

Annoroad Gene Technology, a Beijing-based provider of genomics services that has disclosed its intent to build a “world’s leading genome center,” has purchased 10 Sequel System sequencers for an undisclosed price from Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) of California, PacBio said today. The Sequel systems are expected to be installed at Annoroad facility…

Genoptix has terminated its planned $10 million acquisition of Rosetta Genomics after fewer Rosetta shareholders approved the deal than needed for it to be completed, the companies said today. The termination followed an extraordinary general meeting of Rosetta shareholders held yesterday. Votes representing approximately 47% of the total shares outstanding…

DiaCarta said today it has completed a $45 million Series B financing, with the proceeds to be used toward an expansion of its molecular diagnostic test offerings and NGS services. DiaCarta Founder and CEO Aiguo (Adam) Zhang, Ph.D., said in a statement that the company will use the capital it…

Huntington's disease (HD) patients are an anomaly with respect to contracting cancer, with 80% fewer cases than found in the general population. Now, a team of investigators at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine has discovered why HD is so toxic to cancer cells and are harnessing it as a…

A team of scientists in the U.S. and China has created programmable DNA origami nanorobots that can seek out and shrink tumors by blocking their blood supply. Tests in mice carrying breast, melanoma, ovarian, and lung tumors showed how the DNA nanorobots homed in on cancer-feeding blood vessels and induced…

Royal Philips has announced a pair of technologies aimed at helping fight cancer—including the launch of the latest edition of its IntelliSpace Portal advanced visualization and quantification platform, and the development of a combined liquid biopsy/imaging approach for which a consortium led by the company has won a €6.3 million…

Epic Sciences said today its researchers have partnered with investigators at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK) to develop and apply a new liquid biopsy blood test shown to measure resistance to targeted therapies in metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) patients. The test—which measures tumor heterogeneity through analysis of single…

With it’s 150,000th patient recently enrolled, Geisinger Health System’s MyCode project is helping set the standard for big health data projects around the world. The program has a system to easily enroll patients, process both their genomic and clinical data, return relevant results to them, and spur research. It’s what…

The more diverse the digestive tract bacteria, the slower the progression of metastatic melanoma in patients treated with immunotherapy, researchers at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center reported today. At the 2017 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting in Chicago, the researchers presented results from a…

Molecular diagnostics and technology company Genomic Vision has announced a collaboration with AstraZeneca that will leverage Genomic Vision's FiberVision DNA molecular combing technology to study WEE1 kinase inhibition in cancer. The companies will study the effects of AZ's WEE1 inhibitor on DNA replication progression in cancer cells, and also seek…

Biocept said today it has granted Oregon Health & Sciences University (OHSU) rights to commercially offer the molecular diagnostics developer’s Target Selector™ liquid biopsy testing services exclusively throughout Oregon. In addition, OHSU can use Biocept’s Target Selector assays in-house, and serve as a secondary laboratory for Biocept's research and testing…

Liquid biopsies in oncology initially focused on detecting and analyzing the numbers and types of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood, but more recently many researchers have come to include analysis of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) or circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA). cfDNA testing was first used in the United States…