The company Two Pore Guys (2PG) has teamed with oncologists at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), to evaluate the ability of its handheld nanopore-based platform to detect circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) from patient liquid biopsies. 2PG’s platform uses a battery-operated reader device and disposable test strips containing reagents and solid-state nanopore chips that detect individual molecules, one by one. The study on the device will be conducted by Andrew Ko, MD, a professor of hematology/oncology and a specialist in gastrointestinal cancer at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and will focus on detecting the KRAS G12D mutation among ctDNAs obtained from patient blood and urine samples. This mutation in the KRAS gene has been implicated in a number of cancers such as pancreatic, colon, and non-small cell lung cancer. If successful, the new 2PG device could potentially be used to monitor patients for the recurrence of these cancers from home on a daily basis. “We have high hopes for liquid biopsy as an important tool in the future of cancer treatment,” Ko said. “The sooner we can detect a recurrence, the sooner we can change or augment a patient’s therapy and improve his or her chances of survival.”