13/08/2026
A patient rings the bell to mark the end of chemo. The scans are clean, the cancer declared gone. And yet the hardest question in oncology lingers: is it truly gone?
For decades, oncologists have had no reliable way to answer. Tiny traces of cancer can remain, too small for scans or standard bloodwork to catch. These invisible remnants, known as minimal residual disease, are often the seeds of recurrence.
Tracer Biotechnologies is working to make them visible. Its liquid biopsy begins by sequencing a patient's own tumor to build a molecular fingerprint, then uses that patient-specific reference to detect circulating tumor DNA in later blood samples.
"Each tumor is genetically different, even between patients with the same cancer type," says Gopal Ramachandran, Co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Tracer. The assay sequences each patient's actual tumor tissue and designs patient-specific probes, which he says boosts both accuracy and confidence.
To run that test often enough to matter, and keep it affordable, Tracer partnered with QIAGEN to integrate its tumor-informed approach with the QIAcuity dPCR platform. Digital PCR lets the team test more frequently and with a precision Ramachandran calls, catching the very small changes between time points that signal a tumor growing or shrinking. The assay has shown promise across colon, breast, lung, pancreatic, bladder and ovarian cancers.
"Instead of waiting months for the next scan, oncologists could monitor disease in near real time," Ramachandran says. "It's about transforming cancer care from reactive to proactive."
Helping partners like Tracer turn a single blood draw into an earlier answer is exactly what we built QIAcuity to do.
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Digital PCR enables precise ctDNA-based MRD detection, improving cancer monitoring and early relapse identification.
