Hybrid seminar: Practical and theoretical considerations using digital sequencing in liquid biopsy analysis (SiMSen-seq)

SiMSen-Seq is a core techonology that offers digital resolution with close to error-free sequencing and minimal quantification biases. This approach is flexible and easy to adapt to a wide range of applications, such as detection of circulating tumor-DNA in essentially any tumor entity, immune repertoire profiling, and detection of environmental DNA. 

A key application is personalized SiMSen-Seq panels for circulating tumorDNA detection in cancer patients that enable precision medicine. Here, patients are sequenced at diagnosis using whole genome sequencing, whole exome sequencing or comprehensive gene panels. Then, patient-specific mutations are selected and monitored over time.

The technology was invented by Prof. Anders Ståhlberg in collaboration with Tony Godfrey, Boston University (Ståhlberg et al., Nat Protocol 2017: PMID: 28253235) and currently it is provided to selected research collaborators. Today we are integrating SiMSen-Seq as a research service into the SciLifeLab Clinical Genomics plafform, thus we will be able to offer this state-of-the-art technique nationwide and facilitate its introduction into healthcare.

During the seminar you will be introduced to the theoretical and practical aspects of unique molecular identifiers (UMIs) as well as the optimized workflow for liquid biopsies in a clinical setting. We will showcase the use of digital sequencing using liquid biopsies in cancer management and will touch upon future aspects of digital sequencing, including multi-omics approaches.