Speaker Profile

Ph.D., Foundation Distinguished Professor, The University of Kansas

Biography
Prof. Soper (University of Kansas) has secured extramural funding totaling >$165M, has published >225 peer-reviewed manuscripts (h index = 70; 18,889 citations, 31 book chapters, and is the author of 12 patents. He is the founder of a startup company, BioFluidica, which is marketing devices for the analysis of liquid biopsy samples. His list of awards includes the Ralph Adams International Award for Bioanalytical Chemistry, Chemical Instrumentation by the American Chemical Society, the Benedetti-Pichler Award for Microchemistry, Fellow of the AAAS, Fellow of Applied Spectroscopy, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, R&D 100 Award, Distinguished Masters Award at Louisiana State University and Outstanding Scientist/Engineer in Louisiana. Soper has granted 55 PhDs and 7 MS degrees to students under his mentorship. He currently heads a group of 17. Soper is Director of an NIH-funded Biotechnology Resource Center, which seeks to develop new microfluidic and nanofluidic tools for the biomedical community.


Talk
Liquid Biopsies for Managing Cancer Diseases
We have developed tools for the efficient isolation and molecular analysis of liquid biopsy markers, including circulating tumor cells (CTCs), cell free DNA, and extracellular vesicles. In this talk, we will discuss the use of a microfluidic device for analyzing CTCs to determine response to therapy of pancreatic cancer patients.


 Session Abstract – PMWC 2022 Silicon Valley


The analysis of blood for circulating tumor cells (CTC), circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), extracellular vesicles, or more recently, tumor-educated platelets has opened new avenues for cancer diagnostics, including early detection of tumors, improved risk assessment and staging, as well as early detection of relapse to improve patient care. The track will introduce the up-to-date technologies used in liquid biopsy and review the clinical utilities in cancer screening, detection of minimal residual diseases, selection of molecular-targeted drugs, as well as monitoring of treatment responsiveness.

Sessions:

  • Early Cancer Detection- Status quo, Technical and Clinical Challenges, and the Future (PANEL)
    Session Chair: Jimmy Lin, Freenome
    - Peter Bach, Delfi Diagnostics
    - Ash Alizadeh, Stanford
    - Amir Ali Talasaz, Guardant Health
    - Anne-Renee Hartman, Adela
  • How is Liquid Biopsy Changing the Testing Paradigm for Oncology Patients? (PANEL)
    Session Chair: Rebecca Brandes, Agilent
    - Edward Abrahams, PMC
    - Blandine Merino, Agilent
    - Adrian Lee, UPMC
  • The Emerging Role of ctDNA for Molecular Residual Disease (MRD) Assessment and Recurrence Monitoring
    - Minetta Liu, Natera
  • Liquid Biopsy for Screening, Diagnosis, Prognosis and Therapy Guidance
    Session Chair: Sam Salman, miR Scientific
    - Frederick Baehner, Exact Sciences
  • The Advantages of Exosomes as a Liquid Biopsy Based Markers
    Session Chair: Johan Skog, Exosome Diagnostics
    - Jamil Azzi, Harvard
    - Dolores Di Vizio, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center
  • Showcase
    - Dave Mullarkey, Bluestar Genomics
    - Stephane Mouradian, Personalis
    - Michael Dugan, Biocept
    - Priti Hegde, Foundation Medicine
    - Steven Soper, The University of Kansas
    - Maggie Rougier-Chapman, Personal Genome Diagnostics
    - Daniel Kim, UCSC