With New CRADA, NIST Ups Its Measurement R&D In Support of Precision Medicine Diagnostics

NIST efforts to support accurate diagnostic testing so that cancer treatments can be tailored to the tumor DNA and other characteristics particular to individual patients continue to gain momentum, as the agency mounts a multi-laboratory study to evaluate candidate reference materials for benchmarking measurements of circulating tumor DNA—so-called liquid biopsies.

 

The comparative exercise—sometimes referred to as an interlaboratory “round robin”—benefits from a new three-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) with SeraCare Life Sciences, Millford, Massachusetts.  Under the agreement, SeraCare will supply its circulating DNA reference material technology to NIST to help further development and refinement of digital measurement methods. NIST will distribute these materials for testing at laboratories in the National Cancer Institute’s Early Detection Research Network and to other research and testing organizations.

 

Reliably accurate measurements will be critical to the successful introduction and adoption of liquid biopsies for anticipated clinical applications, which include monitoring therapeutic progress and detecting drug resistance mutations.

 

To learn more about the Precision Medicine for Cancer Diagnostics in NIST’s Biosystems and Biomaterials Division, click here.

 

To read SeraCare’s announcement of the CRADA with NIST, click here.