Watch the Webinar

Olivier Harismendy, Ph.D.
Abstract for Ultra-Deep Targeted Sequencing and Potential Implementation in Cancer Care
On June 19th, Dr. Olivier Harismendy from UC San Diego discussed the development and implementation of an assay that targets ~100kb of mutational hotspots in cancer. He also showed its technical validity for the identification of low-prevalence mutations in heterogeneous cancer samples. Participants learned about the potential of this assay for a clinical environment and the challenges and solutions associated with its development and future implementation.
About Olivier Harismendy
Dr. Harismendy is an Assistant Professor in the division of Genome Information Sciences at the UC San Diego Department of Pediatrics and is a member of the Moores UCSD Cancer Center. He has a decade of experience in functional genomics and has been working in translational genomics for the past five years, developing assays and analysis for targeted sequencing, exploring the role of regulatory variants in common diseases, and improving the detection of somatic mutations in cancer.
Most recently, Dr. Harismendy has been implementing an Ultra Deep Targeted Sequencing assay to detect low-prevalence mutations in clinical samples, with the intent of advancing research to ultimately provide a comprehensive personalized molecular profile of solid tumors. Dr Harismendy serves on the editorial board of the Genome Biology journal and is the associate director of the BioComputational Center at UCSD’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, where he advises and supports the design and analysis of genomic studies initiated by clinicians. Harismendy received a master in process engineering from the ENSTA-ParisTech school of engineering and a PhD in Microbiology from the Paris VII Denis Diderot University.
About the RainDance Technology
The RainDance DeepSeq FFPE Solution is the first ultra-deep targeted sequencing system for fresh-frozen and Formalin-Fixed, Paraffin-Embedded (FFPE) samples. For the first time, researchers can interrogate 500 targets across extensive collections of well-annotated clinical FFPE samples to discover rare cancer and other disease-specific mutations that represent as little one percent of a heterogeneous sample.
The new RainDance Cancer Hotspot Panel enables researchers to simultaneously interrogate hotspots across 54 genes and target more than 13,000 known mutations. The panel provides the highly accurate, consistent, and reproducible results required in oncology research.