Epigenomics for Early Cancer Detection

Research Focus

Cell death results in fragments of cell-free DNA (cfDNA) circulating through the blood. In healthy blood, we expect that all fragments are of healthy tissue origin, which enables us to detect abnormal genetic material, such as tumor-origin cfDNA, that is distinctive from healthy-origin cfDNA. In addition to changes in base pair sequence, tumor DNA contains epigenetic methylation patterns that differ from healthy DNA. My research at BillionToOne aims to identify how this cancerous methylation accumulation differs from aging-associated methylation in healthy tissues, and which emerging patterns can be used as specific and sensitive signals to diagnose cancer at its earliest stages. I am currently building the next-generation version of Northstar Response (see: version 1), which aims to detect minimal residual cancer in post-operative early-stage cancer patients.