Abstract: Liquid biopsy involves the isolation of tumor-derived entities, such as circulating tumor cells, circulating tumor DNA, and tumor extracellular vesicles, present in the body fluids of cancer patients. It is a simple, safe and less invasive alternative to surgical biopsy, allowing doctors to discover a range of information about a tumor from a simple blood sample. By its nature, liquid biopsy can capture tumor heterogeneity in patients with metastatic cancer and contribute to understanding and predicting metastasis. This talk will share some applications of liquid biopsy in cancer research, focusing on circulating cell-free nucleic acids, circulating tumor cells, extracellular vesicles, and microRNA research. Liquid biopsy will usher in a new era in cancer management, and it is a good source for early detection, disease surveillance (including detection of tumor burden, drug resistance, mutation and recurrence), and perhaps for future screening.

Keywords: Circulating cell-free nucleic acids, circulating tumor cells, extracellular vesicles (EVs), cancer cell plasticity, surface-engineered EVs

Biography: Dr Cho’s main research interests have been focusing on cancer studies to discover biomarkers for cancer diagnosis, treatment prediction and prognostication. As a seasoned researcher, Dr Cho has conducted cancer research in using molecular biology, proteomics, genomics, immunology as well as bioinformatics.

Dr Cho has published over 500 peer-reviewed papers (Lancet, Lancet Oncology, Annals of Oncology, Lancet Gastroenterology & Hepatology, Advanced Science, Nature Communications, PNAS, Molecular Cancer, Journal of Thoracic Oncology, Journal of the National Cancer Institute, Journal of Extracellular Vesicles, Clinical Cancer Research, Clinical Chemistry, Theranostics, etc) covering cancer biomarkers, proteomics, non-coding RNAs, Chinese medicine and dozens of books including "An Omics Perspective on Cancer Research", "MicroRNAs in Cancer Translational Research", “Drug Repurposing in Cancer Therapy: Approaches and Applications” and "Supportive Cancer Care with Chinese Medicine" etc. The accumulated impact factors of the journals over 3,500 and these papers have received > 23,000 citations. Dr Cho is listed in the world's top 2% most influential scientists (2022).