Elie Diner

Certis Oncology

New Certis Whitepaper: Bringing Certainty to PDX Model Characterization

Patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models are indispensable for translational cancer research. However, public and private PDX tumor banks may lack standard quality controls, which may lead to genomic and transcriptomic characterization inaccuracies, and the potential to reduce efficiencies with which oncology researchers and clinicians can mimic tumor pharmacology, growth, metastasis, resistance and relapse. To demonstrate the quality of the Certis tumor bank and to ensure the data in the BarneyOI

Improving Drug Development and Glioblastoma Xenograft Models

Primary brain tumors are highly heterogeneous tumors that cause significant morbidity and mortality. An estimated 700,000 Americans are living with a primary brain tumor — approximately 29% of which are malignant.1 Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM), a grade IV astrocytoma, is the most common malignant brain tumor making up nearly half of these cases (49.1%).1 GBM is also the most devastating malignant brain tumor — the median overall survival is just eight months, and only 6.8% of patients survive f

Developing Clinically Relevant Metastatic Colorectal Cancer Models: From Carcinogens to Xenografts

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is common and deadly, making up an estimated 7.9% of all new cancer cases and 8.7% of all cancer deaths in the U.S. last year.1 Cancer mortality often results from metastasis, which for colorectal cancer, happens frequently; one study estimated that 35% of patients present with metastatic disease at the time of diagnosis, and 50% of non-metastatic cases progress to metastatic colorectal cancer (mCRC).2 To improve these clinical outcomes, more effective treatments for meta

How to Identify High-Quality Hits Early On: Your Guide to Ensuring Reproducible In Vitro Oncology Studies

In the past several decades, oncology drug development has had some major successes, from the approval of game-changing therapeutics such as rituximab and trastuzumab in the late-90s to the first tumor-agnostic approval for pembrolizumab in 2017.1 Now, with new, unexplored targets and novel biotherapeutic strategies (i.e., CAR-T) coming of age, the successes promise to continue coming. Despite medical advances, oncology drug development faces an abysmal clinical success rate: Nearly 97% of anti