Liquid Biopsies: Monitoring the Cancer Genome in Blood

Associate Professor Sarah-Jane Dawson is a clinician-scientist. She obtained her medical degree from the University of Melbourne, and trained as an oncologist in Melbourne, Australia. She completed her PhD at the University of Cambridge, UK. 

Following postdoctoral studies at the Cambridge Research Institute, she returned to Melbourne in 2014 to head the Molecular Biomarkers and Translational Genomics Laboratory at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. The major focus of her research is the development of blood-based biomarkers ('liquid biopsies') through the use of circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) and circulating tumour cells (CTC)) to enable personalised disease monitoring and facilitate therapeutic decisions in both solid and haematological malignancies.