Liquid Biopsy Core

PROJECT SUMMARY – Liquid Biopsy Shared Resource The mission of the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center (NCCC) Liquid Biopsy Shared Resource (LBC) is to provide a state-of-the-art multi-platform facility for capture and analysis of circulating tumor cells (CTCs) and matched plasma nucleic acids for cancer research. NCCC Administration oversees LBC with Amir Goldkorn MD continuing in his role as the faculty Director and founder in 2015. Goldkorn provides the strategic direction for LBC, overseeing technology, operations, and financial management. LBC is located in NCCC wet lab research space. During the current grant cycle, noteworthy enhancements include: 1) expanded CTC enrichment platforms from 5 to 12; 2) added new microfluidic cell separation systems, an automated slide stainer and RareCyte high-content CTC analysis and recovery system; 3) developed new workflows to combine recovery of single CTCs for whole genome amplification and gene copy number analysis, rapid enrichment of live CTCs for RNAseq, chip array profiling of plasma cfDNA methylation, and CTC immunofluorescence assays; 4) added parallel cell-free DNA banking and non-EpCAM-dependent CTC enrichment for EpCAM-poor tumors; and 5) developed cost-effective workflows. In the next grant cycle, LBC will be expanding research partnerships with R&D teams at various industry partners to co-develop exciting new liquid biopsy biomarker assays with strong potential for commercialization. During the current grant period from 2015-2020, LBC served 23 full NCCC members in 3 research programs – Translational and Clinical Sciences (TACS), Tumor Microenvironment (TME), and Genomic and Epigenomic Regulation (GER), resulting in 20 intramural and extramural funding applications, 15 of which were funded for $6.75M in direct costs. Since 2015, LBC has contributed to 5 published papers and 11 abstracts and processed 5,396 blood samples. The anticipated annual budget of LBC in the first year of the next grant cycle is $400,712, yet the CCSG request is $134,712. Accordingly, LBC leverages extensive institutional and recharge support and seeks only 34% from CCSG funds.