Speaker Profile
PMWC PIONEER AWARD
Ph.D., Director of Translational Genetics, Johns Hopkins
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.
Session Abstract – PMWC 2027 Silicon Valley
Track Chair:
Victor Velculescu, Johns Hopkins University
PMWC Award Ceremony
• Daniel De Carvalho, University of Toronto
From Mutation to Methylation: The Next Wave of Liquid Biopsy Biomarkers
• Chair: Victor Velculescu, Johns Hopkins University
• Daniel De Carvalho, University of Toronto
• Stephen Master, CHOP/U Penn
• Gordon Sanghera, Oxford Nanopore Technologies
Advancing Minimal Residual Disease Detection Through cfDNA & cfRNA Profiling
• Chair: Luis Diaz, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
• Anne-Renee Hartman, Adela
• Minetta Liu, Natera
• Rita Shaknovich, Agilent
• Ajay Gannerkote, Integrated DNA Tech
AI-Informed Biomarker Trials: Turning Early Signals into Actionable Designs
• Chair: Manish Kohli, University of Utah
• Eric Klein, GRAIL
• Sarah Moseley, DELFI Diagnostics
• Samuel Levy, ClearNote Health
Role of AI in Liquid Biopsies & Cancer Detection
• Chair: Amoolya Singh, DELFI Diagnostics
• Ron Andrews, Dxcover
• Pankaj Vats, NVIDIA
• Paul Shi, Amgen
• Christopher Troll, Claret Bioscience
Integrating Genetic Risk with Early Detection: A Precision Prevention Framework for Cardiovascular Disease
• Paolo Di Domenico, Allelica
AI-Driven Metagenomic and Host RNA Profiling for Precision Diagnosis of Infections
• Charles Chiu, UCSF
AI-Driven Host–Pathogen Signatures from Plasma cfDNA: Bridging Infection Biology and Early Diagnostics
• Sivan Bercovici, Karius
Ultra-Sensitive Multimodal Liquid Biopsy for Early Cancer Detection: AI-Driven Signal Profiling
• John Sninsky, CellMax Life
Overcoming Limits of Traditional cfDNA Assays Using Active Chromatin
• Diana Abdueva, Aqtual
Whole-genome methylome-based early cancer signal detection
• Sally Mackenzie, EpiMethyl Analytics
BrainSee Sees the Brain: FDA-Approved AI for Predicting Modifiable Risk of Developing Alzheimer’s Within Five Year
• Padideh Kamali-Zare, Darmiyan
