Liquid Biopsy Symposium Overview
About the Event
On September 29, 2025, the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center held its Liquid Biopsy Symposium event to bring together UCLA Health JCCC experts to discuss liquid biopsy research. This page serves as a dedicated hub for resources highlighted during the event. Readers are encouraged to review the resources and recorded event linked below for further information on this important topic.
Event Testimonials
“Speakers were great!”
"The quickness kept me awake and engaged."
“I worked with three of the PIs from this symposium and it's great to see the result of what's happening to these studies. Also great to see other researchers' studies and if there may be possible future collaboration.”
Symposium Speakers
Alexandra Drakaki, MD, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Medicine, Hematology/Oncology
Talk title: "Role of ctDNA in Bladder Cancer"
Arjan Gower, MD, MS
Clinical Instructor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Talk title: "Circulating Tumor DNA in Lung Cancer in 2025"
William Hsu, PhD
Professor, Department of Radiological Sciences, Bioengineering
Talk title: "Harnessing AI for Multimodal Fusion in Liquid Biopsy: Advancing Early Cancer Detection"
Matteo Pellegrini, PhD
Professor, Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology
Talk title: "Developing Liquid Biopsy Tools for Diagnosing ALS"
Alice Soragni, PhD
Associate Professor, Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
Talk title: “Patient-Derived Tumor Organoids for Precision Medicine”
Hsian-Rong Tseng, PhD
Professor, Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology
Talk title: "Harnessing Extracellular Vesicle-Derived Molecular/Functional Signatures for Management of Solid Tumors"
David Wong, DMD, DMSc
Professor, School of Dentistry, Division of Oral & Systemic Health Sciences
Talk title: "EFIRM Liquid Biopsy"
Xianghong (Jasmine) Zhou, PhD
Professor, Department of Pathlogy and Laboratory Medicine
Talk title: “Cell-Free DNA for Precision Oncology and Health Monitoring”
Watch Highlights from the Liquid Biopsy Panel Discussion Webinar
Panelists
Paul Boutros, PhD, MBA
Vice Dean for Research (interim)
Professor, Departments of Human Genetics and Urology
Associate Director of Cancer Informatics, Institute for Precision Health
Director of Cancer Data Science, UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Dino Di Carlo, PhD
Professor and Chair, Department of Bioengineering
Marla Lipsyc-Sharf, MD
Assistant Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Hematology/Oncology
Liying Zhang, MD, PhD
Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Director, Advanced Molecular Diagnostics Service
Director, Cancer Molecular Diagnostics, UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Webinar Testimonials
“Thank you for hosting my question about how recent graduates and trainees can get involved with biotechnology and how to navigate patents or startups! I really appreciated the discussion!”
“I really liked how the questions were prepared ahead of time and that the speakers for the questions were considered ahead of time, great setup!”
Event Moderators and Organizers
Aditya Bardia, MD, MPH, FASCO
Program Director, Breast Medical Oncology
Assistant Chief (Translational Research), Division of Hematology-Oncology
Professor of Medicine, Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Director of Translational Research Integration, UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Heather Christofk, PhD
Professor, Department of Biological Chemistry
Director of Basic and Translational Research, UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center
Co-Director, UCLA Metabolomics Center
Support Cancer Research and Breakthroughs in Liquid Biopsy Testing
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