ESH AL 2018 | NGS and high sensitivity ddPCR for detecting MRD

So in terms of the best place, there are reference laboratories in all of the countries in Europe, they participate in the EuroMRD quality control procedures, and I think that that is the place to go, particularly as I strongly recommend entering any patisent possible into a clinical trial, which would automatically result in the analysis being conducted in one of these certified high-quality laboratories. In terms of the technology, I think we’re seeing two developments; one with NGS (next-generation sequencing), which will provide a certain breadth of coverage, so looking at different mutations in the same analytical run, of course also being able to look at not only kinase domain mutations but other somatic mutations, but it has still limitations in the depth it can measure. One of the technologies that we are exploring is high sensitivity digital droplet PCR, where essentially millions of individual PCR reactions compartmentalized in droplets are measured, allowing a quantitative, highly sensitive measurement of both MRD and for example, mutations. In a collaboration with [Inaudible] from Kings, we are utilizing a combined approach with his optimized NGS, plus our digital approach to work out where the strengths, weaknesses, and potentially the value of the combined methodologies lies in Ph-positive ALL and CML