Prof. Steven A. Soper Presents at Molecular Med Tri-Con 2020

Prof. Steven A. Soper traveled to San Francisco, CA for the 27th International Molecular Med Tri-Conference, held March 1-4, 2020, at the Moscone South Convention Center. The Molecular Med Tri-Con is divided into three conferences: Precision Health, Digital Health, and Bio-IT World West.

Soper’s talk, titled “Liquid Biopsies in Non-Oncological Diseases: Circulating Cells and Extracellular Vesicles as a Source of mRNA for the in vitro Diagnostics of Stroke” was part of the Precision Health conference, and Cambridge Healthtech Institute’s 10th Annual Circulating Tumor Cells and Liquid Biopsy program. Prof. Soper was the chairperson of the March 4th Non-Blood-Based Liquid Biopsy Diagnostics: Investigating Alternate Input Materials session.

The abstract for Prof. Soper’s talk was:

Stroke is the third leading killer in the US and the main cause of over 795,000 cases of adult disability each year. The two major types of stroke, ischemic and hemorrhagic, cannot be clinically differentiated; 30% of patients presenting stroke-like symptoms do not have stroke and <5% of stroke patients are treated with available therapeutics (recombinant tissue plasminogen activator for acute ischemic stroke). Computed tomography is commonly used for diagnosis, which provides a clinical sensitivity of only 25%, and in most cases, does not provide clinical information to meet the necessary time requirements for proper therapeutic administration (<4.5 h). Unfortunately, there are no FDA-approved in vitro diagnostic tests for stroke that could address the aforementioned issues. In this presentation, we will provide data on the use of liquid biopsy markers, as well as isolation technologies and appropriate mRNA gene panels.