Biography
Dr. Velculescu led the first genome wide sequence analysis in humancancers, identifying key genes and pathways dysregulated in tumorigenesis.He developed methods for global gene expression analyses and coined theword transcriptome" to describe the patterns that could now be obtained incancer and other cells. These analyses identified a variety of genes notpreviously known to be involved in neoplasia, including PIK3CA as one ofthe most highly mutated genes in human cancer. His team's discoveries haveled to new FDA approved therapies against PI3K and IDH1, and diagnostictests for comprehensive tumor profiling. More recently, his group hascreated noninvasive machine learning liquid biopsy approaches for earlydetection and monitoring of cancer patients. His work has provided newparadigms for understanding human cancer that have benefited patientsworldwide. He has been a Founder and CoCEO of Personal Genome Diagnosticsand is Founder and CEO of Delfi Diagnostics.

Biography
Dr. Curtis laboratory leverages data analytics, high-throughput molecularprofiling and experimentation to develop new ways to prevent, diagnose andtreat cancer. Her research has led to new paradigms in understanding howhuman tumors evolve and metastasize and has redefined the molecular map ofbreast cancer. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, includingthose from the V Foundation for Cancer Research, STOP Cancer, the AmericanAssociation for Cancer Research (AACR). She received the NationalInstitutes of Health Directors Pioneer Award in 2018 and was named an InVivo Rising Star in 2021. She is a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy ofSciences, a Susan G. Komen Scholar, and a Chan Zuckerberg BiohubInvestigator. In 2022, she received the AACR Award for OutstandingAchievement in Basic Science. She is a scientific advisor to multipleacademic institutes, biotech and biopharma, and is a member of the AACRBoard of Directors.

Biography
Dr. Garry P. Nolan is the Rachford and Carlota A. Harris Professor in the Department of Pathology at Stanford University School of Medicine. Trained with Leonard Herzenberg (Ph.D.) and Nobel laureate David Baltimore (postdoc), he is known for cloning and characterizing NF-κB p65RelA and developing rapid retroviral production systems. Author of over 350 papers and holder of 50 U.S. patents, he has received multiple honors, including the Teal Innovator Award, FDA BAAA, and Nature Publishing Groups Outstanding Research Achievement. His research spans hematopoiesis, cancer, autoimmunity, inflammation, and systems immunology, with a focus on single-cell analysis technologies such as CyTOF, MIBI, and CODEX. Dr. Nolan has founded or co-founded multiple biotech companies, with several acquired by industry leaders. His current work applies high-dimensional imaging and cytometry to deepen understanding of immune function, pathogen response, and cancer biology, aiming to improve disease management and clinical outcomes.

Biography
Amoolya Singh is Chief Technology Officer at DELFI Diagnostics. Previously, she was Senior Vice President of Research and Chief Scientific Officer at GRAIL, and prior to that, she was Head of Discovery at Calico Life Sciences, where she catalyzed multiple productive collaborations between computational groups and experimental groups. Amoolya earned a PhD in computational biology and a MS in computer science at the University of California at Berkeley. She holds a BS degree in biology and computer science from Carnegie Mellon. Amoolya completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the European Molecular Biology Lab in Heidelberg, Germany in 2008 and a Computational and Life Sciences fellowship at Emory University in 2011 in comparative genomics and metagenomics, population genetics and experimental evolution.

Biography
Health policy and payment expert, pulmonary physician, and lung cancer epidemiologist, Peter has devoted his career to repairing defects in the healthcare delivery system that impede access to high-quality cancer care and working to ameliorate healthcares cost crisis. His work spans seminal studies including that identification of racial gaps in lung cancer care, the development of the first lung cancer risk prediction model (the Bach model), lead authorship on multiple lung screening guidelines, and definitional work on pharmaceutical pricing and value. Peter previously served as Senior Adviser at the US Centers for Medicare Medicaid Services and mentor on many National Institutes of Health K awards. He has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine, American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Johns Hopkins Society of Scholars.

Biography
Klaus Pantel is a global pioneer in liquid biopsy whose groundbreaking research established circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and micrometastases as clinically meaningful biomarkers. His work revealed how tumor cells disseminate early in cancer progression and provided the first evidence that these rare cells could guide prognosis and therapy monitoring. Pantels leadership extended beyond the lab with the founding of the European Liquid Biopsy Society, creating the infrastructure and collaborations needed to advance blood-based cancer detection worldwide. His contributions have transformed liquid biopsy from a research concept into a cornerstone of precision oncology, enabling earlier detection, real-time treatment monitoring, and more effective cancer care.

Talk
Early detection of cancer by multimodal liquid biopsy analysis
Early detection of cancer is one of the most challenging application of liquid biopsy with overarching goal to reduce cancer mortality. Here, I will discuss the concept of a multimodal liquid biopsy encompassing the broad range of blood biomarkers including cell-free DNA, proteins, RNAs, extracellular vesicles, metabolites as well as circulating tumor and host cells as exemplified in my EU-funded project PANCAID aimed to detect pancreatic cancer at its earliest stages.

Biography
Dr. Diaz is a physician-scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering CancerCenter. His teams provided the first definitive evidence for usingcirculating tumor DNA as cancer biomarker for screening, monitoring, anddetection of occult disease; and discovered the therapeutic link betweenimmunotherapy and cancer genetics in patients with mismatch repairdeficient tumors.This research led to the historic first pan-tumor FDAapproval for any solid tumors with this genetic lesion and the first cancerstudy that resulted in a 100% complete response rate.He is the recipientof numerous recognitions for his work including the Waun Ki Hong Award forOutstanding Achievement in Cancer Research. He is Editor-in-Chief of CancerDiscovery and is an elected member of the Giants of Cancer Care, the AACRFellows Academy, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and theAmerican Academy of Physicians.In 2021, Dr. Diaz was appointed byPresident Joseph Biden to the National Cancer Advisory Board.

Biography
Dr. Varsha Rao is the VP of Partnerships and Clinical Affairs at ClaretBio.She oversees the clinical applications of the novel next-generationsequence assays and analytical pipelines developed at ClaretBio with a mainfocus on evaluating the utility of cell-free DNA fragmentation patterns incancer progression and treatment response monitoring. Before joiningClaretBio, she was a Research Scientist at Stanford University School ofMedicine in Prof Michael Snyder's lab. As a part of multiple consortia suchas the Integrative Personalized Omics Profiling Project, the HumanMicrobiome Project and the NASA Twins Study she has worked on longitudinalmultiomic analyses, focusing on applying transcriptomics and liquid biopsyapproaches to understand nuances of metabolic diseases, cancer, infectiousdisease and general health. She received her PhD in Molecular and CellularBiology from University of Maryland Baltimore County in 2012.

Biography
Dr. Hartman is a leader in oncology diagnostics with over 20 years ofexperience developing clinical cancer tests. Leveraging her expertiseacross the continuum of care, from early detection to minimal residualdisease monitoring, she has spearheaded pivotal trials in riskstratification, cancer screening, and cancer management during herleadership roles at Myriad Genetics and GRAIL. Driven by a passion forinnovation, Dr. Hartman co founded Adela to pioneer a high performingliquid biopsy utilizing whole methylome technology. With diverse expertisein clinical development, product development and diagnostic platforms, sheis translating her deep knowledge into transformative molecular approachesfor early diagnosis and tailored treatment.

Biography
Dr. Daniel De Carvalho is a leading cancer biologist recognized for pioneering cfDNA methylome profiling (cfMeDIP-seq), the first method to demonstrate that tumor-specific methylation patterns in plasma can reveal both the presence and tissue-of-origin of cancer. His research bridges epigenetics, liquid biopsy, and translational oncology, driving new approaches for early cancer detection, minimal residual disease detection, surveillance, classification and monitoring therapy response. At the University of Toronto and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, his lab investigates how DNA methylation dynamics inform tumor evolution, transposable elements regulation, viral mimicry and treatment response. Dr. De Carvalho’s discoveries have reshaped how scientists and clinicians view the potential of epigenetic biomarkers in precision oncology and pioneered the use of cfDNA methylation for clinical use.

Biography
Giordano Botta is the Co-Founder and CEO of Allelica Inc, where he drives the development and clinical implementation of multi-ancestry polygenic risk scores (PRS). Under his leadership, Allelica pioneered the first clinical multi-ancestry PRS test for Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), breast and prostate cancer, now used by leading healthcare systems. He focuses on cost-effectiveness analysis to ensure the long-term sustainability of PRS tests. Botta has overseen the creation of a software engine and the integration of genomic and clinical data from over one million individuals of diverse ancestries to develop and validate PRS. His primary interest is advancing the integration of PRS for CAD and common cancers into standard medical care, improving prevention and early intervention strategies.

Biography
Dr. Diaz is a physician-scientist at Memorial Sloan Kettering CancerCenter. His teams provided the first definitive evidence for usingcirculating tumor DNA as cancer biomarker for screening, monitoring, anddetection of occult disease; and discovered the therapeutic link betweenimmunotherapy and cancer genetics in patients with mismatch repairdeficient tumors.This research led to the historic first pan-tumor FDAapproval for any solid tumors with this genetic lesion and the first cancerstudy that resulted in a 100% complete response rate.He is the recipientof numerous recognitions for his work including the Waun Ki Hong Award forOutstanding Achievement in Cancer Research. He is Editor-in-Chief of CancerDiscovery and is an elected member of the Giants of Cancer Care, the AACRFellows Academy, the American Society of Clinical Investigation, and theAmerican Academy of Physicians.In 2021, Dr. Diaz was appointed byPresident Joseph Biden to the National Cancer Advisory Board.

Biography
Klaus Pantel is a global pioneer in liquid biopsy whose groundbreakingresearch established circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and micrometastases asclinically meaningful biomarkers. His work revealed how tumor cellsdisseminate early in cancer progression and provided the first evidencethat these rare cells could guide prognosis and therapy monitoring. Pantelsleadership extended beyond the lab with the founding of the European LiquidBiopsy Society, creating the infrastructure and collaborations needed toadvance blood-based cancer detection worldwide. His contributions havetransformed liquid biopsy from a research concept into a cornerstone ofprecision oncology, enabling earlier detection, real-time treatmentmonitoring, and more effective cancer care.

Biography
Dr Kohli's academic journey as a physician and physician-scientist over the past 24 years has centered on multi-disciplinary teams that deliver convergence science-based solutions to enhance cancer care. He has worked in NCI-designated comprehensive cancer care matrix centers, tertiary-level VA facilities, university settings, and not-for-profit clinics, gaining a deep understanding of the complexities inherent in each care model. Currently, he holds the position of tenured Professor in the Department of Medicine and the Jack and Hazel Robertson Presidential Endowed Chair at the University of Utah-Huntsman Cancer Institute in cancer research. As a clinician-scientist his multi-disciplinary teams focus has secured continuous and multiple NIH RO1 grant funding since 2011.He develops real-world annotated biobanks to apply the rapid advances in computing power to develop patented algorithms through in silico multi-omic, machine learning modeling for clinical applications that can results in developing innovative biomarker-based enrichment-type clinical trial designs for enhancingindividualized care in cancer.

Biography
Klaus Pantel is a global pioneer in liquid biopsy whose groundbreakingresearch established circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and micrometastases asclinically meaningful biomarkers. His work revealed how tumor cellsdisseminate early in cancer progression and provided the first evidencethat these rare cells could guide prognosis and therapy monitoring. Pantelsleadership extended beyond the lab with the founding of the European LiquidBiopsy Society, creating the infrastructure and collaborations needed toadvance blood-based cancer detection worldwide. His contributions havetransformed liquid biopsy from a research concept into a cornerstone ofprecision oncology, enabling earlier detection, real-time treatmentmonitoring, and more effective cancer care.

Biography
Dr. Velculescu led the first genome wide sequence analysis in human cancers, identifying key genes and pathways dysregulated in tumorigenesis. He developed methods for global gene expression analyses and coined the word transcriptome" to describe the patterns that could now be obtained in cancer and other cells. These analyses identified a variety of genes not previously known to be involved in neoplasia, including PIK3CA as one of the most highly mutated genes in human cancer. His team's discoveries have led to new FDA approved therapies against PI3K and IDH1, and diagnostic tests for comprehensive tumor profiling. More recently, his group has created noninvasive machine learning liquid biopsy approaches for early detection and monitoring of cancer patients. His work has provided new paradigms for understanding human cancer that have benefited patients worldwide. He has been a Founder and CoCEO of Personal Genome Diagnostics and is Founder and CEO of Delfi Diagnostics.

Biography
Dr. Daniel De Carvalho is a leading cancer biologist recognized forpioneering cfDNA methylome profiling (cfMeDIP-seq), the first method todemonstrate that tumor-specific methylation patterns in plasma can revealboth the presence and tissue-of-origin of cancer. His research bridgesepigenetics, liquid biopsy, and translational oncology, driving newapproaches for early cancer detection, minimal residual disease detection,surveillance, classification and monitoring therapy response. At theUniversity of Toronto and Princess Margaret Cancer Centre, his labinvestigates how DNA methylation dynamics inform tumor evolution,transposable elements regulation, viral mimicry and treatment response. Dr.De Carvalhos discoveries have reshaped how scientists and clinicians viewthe potential of epigenetic biomarkers in precision oncology and pioneeredthe use of cfDNA methylation for clinical use.

Biography
With over 35 years in the diagnostics industry, Ronnie has successfully led organizations ranging from divisions of Fortune 500 companies to innovative startups. His executive experience spans global industry leaders including Abbott Diagnostics, Roche Molecular Diagnostics, LifeTechnologies and Thermo Fisher as well as public CEO roles at Clarient Inc (NASDAQ: CLRT), Oncocyte Inc (NASDAQ: OCX) and TwinStrand Bioscience. He is a passionate advocate for helping emerging technology companies focused on early detection of cancer and democratization of academic care. He has mentored over 20 CEO's and Sr Executives and is currently Founder and Managing Partner of Bethesda Group Advisors, a strategic advisory firm.

Biography
Dr. Esteller is an internationally recognized figure in epigenetics and oncology. His pioneering work has been instrumental in understanding how epigenetic mechanismsprocesses that regulate gene expression without altering the DNA sequenceaffect the development of cancer and other complex diseases.

Biography
Eric A. Klein is a Distinguished Scientist at GRAIL. Previously he servedas the Andrew C. Novick Distinguished Professor and Chair of the GlickmanUrological and Kidney Institute and Lerner College of Medicine of theCleveland Clinic, where he was also a member of the Department of CancerBiology of the Cleveland Clinic Lerner Research Institute, the TaussigCancer Institute, and the Genitourinary Malignancies Program in the CaseComprehensive Cancer Center. Dr. Kleins clinical and research interestsfocused on prostate cancer with an emphasis on genomics and clinicaltrials. Most recently his work has focused on the clinical development ofmulticancer early detection tests. Dr. Klein was a Fellow in theDistinguished Careers Institute at Stanford University in 2022 and joinedGRAIL in 2023.

Biography
Charles Chiu, M.D. Ph.D. is a Professor at UCSF, Director of the UCS-FAbbott Viral Diagnostics and Discovery Center (VDDC), and Associate Director of the UCSF Clinical Microbiology Laboratory. Chiu currentlyleadsa translational research laboratory focused on clinical metagenomic sequencing assay development for infectious diseases and genomic investigation and surveillance of emerging pathogens, including the SARSCoV2 coronavirus. He also uses RNASeq transcriptome profiling to develop predictive models using machine learning for host response based diagnosis of COVID19 and other infections. Chius work is supported by funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Department of Defense, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC),philanthropy,and the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine.He hasauthored more than 100 peer reviewed publications (20 on COVID19),holdsover 15 patents and patent applications, and serves on thescientificadvisory board for Mammoth Biosciences, Danaher Dx, Biomesense,andFlightpath.

Biography
CEO and co-founder of Oxford Nanopore Technologies, pioneering real-time, scalable DNARNA sequencing. With a PhD in bioelectronic technology, he led the company from spinout to global player, transforming genomics with portable sequencing devices. Sanghera champions accessible, decentralized sequencing for research, healthcare, and public health worldwide.

Biography
Samuel joined ClearNote Health at its inception and has co-authored many of the research papers we have published about our epigenomics technology platform and our DNA-based 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5hmC) biomarker. For more than 20 years, he has held leadership positions in genomics and molecular diagnostic development at companies including Celera, Genomic Health, Quanticel Pharmaceuticals (now part of Celgene), and Impact GenomicsLexent Bio which he co-founded and is now a part of Foundation Medicine. Samuel has also served on the faculty at the J. Craig Venter Institute, Scripps Translational Science Institute and Scripps Research Institute. He holds degrees from the University of Bristol and the University of Leeds in the United Kingdom.

Biography
Sivan is a recognized innovator and entrepreneur in artificial intelligencewho has dedicated two decades to pioneering the development of complexcomputational and data platforms. His key contributions include thedevelopment of novel machine-learning models tackling significantchallenges in human disease. At Karius, he spearheaded the development ofthe foundational computational platform underlying the Karius Test,elevated the biomarker discovery program, and was central to forming andnurturing key strategic partnerships, furthering the companys impact in themedical field. Prior to Karius, Sivan was a co-founder and Chief TechnologyOfficer at Lifecode, where he led the development of the analyticalplatform and validation of several clinical assays across oncology and rarediseases. He holds a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the Technion IsraelInstitute of Technology, and continued to Stanfords Artificial IntelligenceLab to pursue his post-doctoral research.

Biography
John J Sninsky, Ph.D. is Chief Technology Advisor for CellMax Life. John has a deep understanding of the underlying biology of colon cancer progression that provides mechanistic insights of biomarkers for blood-based screening. He has an extensive knowledge of the development and application of pioneering molecular procedures and bioinformatics for the translation of research-grade biomarker assays into clinical-grade broadly adopted diagnostic tests as well as diagnostic tests paired with pharmacotherapies.John is the author of more than 125 scientific papers. He was a member of teams that developed the Polymerase Chain Reaction, sequenced the Human Genome and developed clinical-grade DNA and RNA liquid biopsies. John spent 30 years in senior management at companies that ranged from small to enterprise CLIA-CAP laboratories and in vitro diagnostic companies that commercialize FDA clearedapproved IVD kits. These companies included Cetus, Roche Molecular Systems, Celera Diagnostics, Quest Diagnostics, Molecular Stethoscope and CareDx.

Talk
Technology Imperatives for Preventive Colorectal Cancer Screening
Profound advances in our understanding of the natural history of cancer have occurred over the last decade. Removal of advanced adenomas makes the greatest contribution to reduction in CRC morbidity, mortality and cost. The complexity of the adenoma-carcinoma continuum requires an accurate blood-based multimodal technology CRC screening test.

Biography
Pankaj Vats, PhD, is a senior genomics and AI scientist with NVIDIA Clara Parabricks, where he advances GPUaccelerated genomics for research and clinical use. He designs and validates deep learning methods for large, heterogeneous genomic datasets, with a focus on cancer genomics, structural variation, and liquid biopsy. His work includes DeepSAP, a transformer-based RNAseq alignment workflow that improves detection of complex splice junctions. He also led development of MambaSV, a sequence statespace model for resolving structural variants. In liquid biopsy, he integrates AI models with cfDNA and RNA assays to enhance early cancer detection, minimal residual disease monitoring, and treatment response assessment. Operating at the intersection of AI, highperformance computing, and precision oncology, he helps translate foundation models, longcontext architectures, and AI driven genomics methods into scalable tools for diagnostic labs, biopharma partners, translational research labs, and the broader genomics research community.

Biography
Diana Abduevas career spans two decades of research and innovation centered on understanding the structure, behavior, and diagnostic potential of DNA inside and outside the cell. Her work reflects a deep, sustained commitment to translating the complexity of DNA biology into tools that guide therapy and improve outcomes, turning complex DNA signal into clinically actionable insight.

Talk
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Biography
Dr. Master is basedwithin the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP), where he holds the Michael J. Bennett Endowed Chair in Pathology.He serves as Director of the CHOP Center for Diagnostic Innovation as well as of the Michael Palmieri Laboratory for Metabolic and Advanced Diagnostics.His work focuses on machine learning and mass spectrometry for diagnostic development, including both cancer diagnostics as well as support for emerging cell and gene therapy programs. He is a past President of the American Association for Clinical Chemistry (now ADLM), has served on the scientific committee for the Mass Spectrometry: Applications to the Clinical Lab conference, and was lead author on the IFCC working group guidelines on machine learning in laboratory medicine.

Biography
Anne Docimo is the chief medical officer of UnitedHealthcare, responsible for the clinical, cost and experience outcomes of more than 50 million members in UnitedHealthcares Commercial, Medicare and Medicaid health plans. Anne Docimo work with both internal and external stakeholders to develop and implement clinical strategies and programs to improve the overall health care system and help us deliver on our mission of making the health care system work better for everyone. She has served as a physician leader in the evolving health care marketplace for more than 20 years. As a practicing clinician in primary care and emergency medicine, Dr. Docimo worked in private practice, as a government contractor, in a staff-model HMO and in academic medical centers. As a physician executive in both provider and payer organizations, she has experience in using clinical and claims data to design and implement population health programs to improve clinical and financial outcomes.

Biography
Rita Shaknovich she oversees medical strategy and contributes to the development of innovative diagnostic solutions. Prior to joining Agilent, Dr. Shaknovich held senior leadership positions at GRAIL and Cancer Genetics, where she played pivotal roles in clinical and translational initiatives. She began her career in academic medicine, serving as Assistant Professor at Weill Cornell Medical College and Montefiore Medical Center