Ultima Genomics Hits Single-Digit PPM Sensitivity for ctDNA Cancer Recurrence Detection
Picture a swimming pool. Now picture finding one specific drop of ink in it. That's roughly the scale of the problem Ultima Genomics just tackled.
At the AACR 2026 annual meeting, the company presented new data for its ppmSeq technology, a whole-genome sequencing method built to catch minimal residual disease, or MRD. MRD is the small amount of cancer left behind after treatment, too little for a scan to catch, but enough to cause a relapse later.
In a validation pilot, ppmSeq detected circulating tumor DNA at single-digit parts-per-million concentrations. Translated: it can spot a handful of tumor DNA fragments hiding among millions of normal ones, from a routine blood draw.
Why does that number matter so much? Because the earlier a relapse shows up in blood, the more treatment options a patient still has. Sensitivity has always been the bottleneck holding liquid biopsy back from real clinical use. This result pushes that bottleneck open a little further, and nudges liquid biopsy closer to something doctors can actually rely on, not just something researchers talk about at conferences.