Biography
The major focus of Dr. Alizadeh’s research group is to attain a better understanding of the initiation, maintenance, and progression of lymphoid tumors, and their response to existing and novel therapies toward improving current treatment strategies. In this effort, they employ tools from functional genomics, computational biology, molecular genetics, and mouse models. They hope to apply this knowledge towards the design of clinical trials in the treatment of patients with lymphoma, leukemia, and myeloma.
Blood/liquid biopsy-based biomarkers for the most accurate early detection of cancer are still in the early phases of development. Before these types of biomarkers/tests can be used in the clinical setting, various clinical and preclinical issues (e.g. detection sensitivity) need to be addressed. This session discusses latest advancements in the development of blood-based biomarkers and describes clinical study programs in which they are implemented, including the limitations and challenges that need to be overcome before the translation of their use for clinical purpose will be a reality.