Hello and welcome!

I am a scientist working on clinical biomarker development in the biotech industry, with a focus on liquid biopsy (e.g. ctDNA) technology implementation in drug development, as well as analysis of high throughput NGS genomics data in Phase II/III clinical trials.

My background includes experience in the diagnostics space, a PhD in genetics/genomics, and graduate research in population genetics, mathematical modeling, and molecular biology. 

My publications can all be found on PubMed, including first-author work demonstrating the utility of ctDNA for patient selection and treatment response monitoring :

• Assaf ZJ, et al. A longitudinal circulating tumor DNA-based model associated with survival in metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer”; Nature Medicine. 2023. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36928816/
• Powles T & Assaf ZJ (co-first), et al. ctDNA guiding adjuvant immunotherapy in urothelial carcinoma. Nature. 2021.  https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34135506/

Other highlights of my experience include:

•  Clinical trial Biomarker Lead for Ph II/III studies using ctDNA for prospective selection or for key secondary endpoints
• Leading ctDNA data analysis efforts within Genentech’s Translational Medicine department
• Driving the application of bioinformatics and analytics methods to large clinical biomarker datasets, including the use of machine learning methods with high throughput NGS genomic data
• Experienced in diagnostic assay development for tumor-informed ctDNA testing
• Successful contributor to collaborations between pharmaceutical, diagnostic, and academic partners

Please checkout my CV.