Date Time Ludwig Johns Hopkins researchers develop new DNA detection method to improve liquid biopsies May 6, 2021, NEW YORK – A team of researchers at the Ludwig Center at Johns Hopkins has developed a far more sensitive and accurate next-generation gene sequencing technology for the detection of rare fragments of mutated DNA shed by tumors into body fluids. The detection of such DNA fragments-commonly referred to as “liquid biopsies”-holds the promise of easing the detection of cancers at their earliest stages, when they are most likely to be curable. In a study led by Ludwig Johns Hopkins researchers Bert Vogelstein, Kenneth Kinzler, Nickolas Papadopoulos and MD-PhD student Joshua Cohen and published May 3 in Nature Biotechnology, the team reported the development and analytical assessment of SaferSeqS (for “Safer Sequencing System”). Their report shows that SaferSeqS is a major improvement over a now widely adopted method developed at Ludwig Johns Hopkins a decade ago named Safe Sequencing System. The new SaferSeqS technology improves the sensitivity of mutant DNA detection and reduces the baseline error rate more than 100-fold in comparison to other methods commonly used for such purposes.