Nickolas Papadopoulos

Biography
Nickolas Papadopoulos is a pioneer in cancer genetics and multi-cancer early detection. At Johns Hopkins, he helped define the genetic basis of hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, now central to understanding mismatch repair defects and inherited cancer risk. He later helped lead the development of CancerSEEK, a blood-based multi-analyte test combining circulating tumor DNA mutations and protein biomarkers to detect multiple common cancers, including cancers with no routine screening option. As a senior leader of DETECT-A, he helped move multi-cancer early detection beyond technical promise into a prospective interventional screening study in nearly 10,000 asymptomatic women. His work has helped shift liquid biopsy from tumor profiling toward earlier detection, clinical localization, and real-world implementation, a central frontier in precision oncology.

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Talk
Detecting Cancer Early with Liquid Biopsy
Using liquid biopsy to detect cancer before it is clinically detected has the potential to reduce both mortality and morbidity due to cancer. Liquid biopsy allows the detection of many tumor types. Two clinical applications will be discussed, Multicancer early detection and detection of minimal residual disease.