Nicole van Grieken (pathologist, Amsterdam UMC, The Netherlands)

Biography

Nicole van Grieken is a Full Professor of the Pathology of Gastro−Intestinal tumors at the VU University in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Since 2009 she works as a gastro−intestinal pathologist at Amsterdam University Medical Center in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
Her scientific interest is on translational research of tumors of the gastro−intestinal tract, with a main focus on morphological and molecular alterations that can serve as prognostic and predictive biomarkers in gastro−intestinal cancer. Dr. van Grieken has authored and co−authored over 150 research articles. She is responsible for central pathology review and the translational research program of several clinical trials on gastro−esophageal and colorectal cancer.

Summary of presentation

Circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis is powerful, non-invasive method to obtain information from a tumor. In each stage of disease ctDNA can be applied to provide clinically useful information. This includes information on whether tumor is present or absent, which molecular abnormalities/druggable targets are present in the tumor, or whether a tumor will respond to a specific treatment. In this presentation an overview of current methods and applications for gastric cancer will be provided.