Professor
Iwate Medical University
Yahaba, Japan
Dr. Nishizuka is a physician–scientist dedicated to biomarker discovery in human cancers and the development of clinically actionable molecular diagnostics. He serves as Professor at Iwate Medical University’s Institute for Biomedical Sciences and as CEO of Quantdetect, Inc., an academic research–driven startup advancing precision oncology technologies. His current work focuses on the clinical implementation of tumor-informed circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) analysis to enable sensitive and personalized monitoring of cancer dynamics. To overcome the limitations of next-generation sequencing, his team has developed a ready-to-use digital PCR primer/probe library with over 1,000 targets representing recurrent cancer mutations. This approach allows individualized, high-frequency, and longitudinal ctDNA tracking with exceptional analytical sensitivity. It has shown clinical validity for early relapse prediction, treatment efficacy evaluation, and no relapse corroboration. The platform has been deployed in Japan as a laboratory-developed test (LDT) called the Off-The-Shelf (OTS)-Assay, linking research innovation with clinical implementation. Dr. Nishizuka received MD and PhD from Iwate Medical University and completed postdoctoral training at University of California, Irvine, followed by a research fellowship at US National Cancer Institute.
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Thursday, November 13, 2025
3:15 PM - 3:30 PM EST