About This Project
Pancreatic cancer is one of the deadliest cancers with no effective therapies. AURORA is based on the hypothesis that genetic alterations in circulating tumor DNA can predict disease progression and treatment response. Using a minimally invasive liquid biopsy, we will analyse tumor DNA in blood to monitor cancer evolution in real time. Your donation supports researchers at the University of Siena in identifying biomarkers to guide personalized therapies improving treatment response and survival.
Ask the Scientists
Join The DiscussionWhat is the context of this research?
Pancreatic cancer remains one of the most aggressive and lethal malignancies, with a steadily increasing incidence and limited therapeutic options. Due to its silent clinical progression and intrinsic resistance to conventional treatments, most patients are diagnosed at advanced stages, when curative interventions are no longer feasible. Despite advances in imaging and systemic therapies, the lack of effective tools for real-time monitoring continues to limit treatment personalization and clinical outcomes. The project addresses this unmet clinical need by applying a non-invasive, multi-omic liquid biopsy approach to identify predictive and actionable biomarkers in blood. The project is grounded in the hypothesis that genetic alterations in circulating tumor DNA reflect tumor evolution and can predict disease progression and response to therapy. This strategy enables real-time molecular profiling, paving the way for truly personalized medicine.
What is the significance of this project?
The AURORA project represents a crucial step toward transforming the clinical management of pancreatic cancer. By integrating liquid biopsy and sequencing analysis, AURORA aims to overcome the limitations of traditional tissue biopsies, offering a real-time, non-invasive way to monitor tumor evolution. This approach can identify novel predictive biomarkers, refine patient stratification, and guide personalized treatments, ultimately improving survival and quality of life.
Beyond its immediate clinical impact, AURORA will generate valuable molecular data that can accelerate future research and open new therapeutic perspectives for one of the most challenging cancers.
What are the goals of the project?
The AURORA project aims to bring precision medicine to pancreatic cancer through innovative, non-invasive molecular profiling. By using liquid biopsy, AURORA seeks to identify actionable biomarkers in blood that can predict how patients respond to treatment and how the disease progresses. Repeated blood tests will allow real-time monitoring of tumor evolution and therapy resistance, helping doctors make more informed decisions. We plan to enroll at least 20 patients and collect at least 2 samples per patient: one at diagnosis and the other at follow-up. Ultimately, the project aims to support personalized treatment strategies that improve survival and quality of life for patients with metastatic pancreatic cancer, while building a valuable molecular resource to accelerate future cancer research.
Budget
Your support will directly fund the core research activities of AURORA project, from blood sample collection to advanced DNA sequencing and analyses.
A budget of $2,000 supports approximately 40 samples, including collection tubes, plasma separation, cfDNA extraction and quantification. The high-depth sequencing budget of $5,000 supports next-generation sequencing of ctDNA using the Illumina NovaSeq X platform, allowing the analysis of around 40 samples with adequate depth to detect clinically relevant genetic alterations. An additional $1,000 supports validation of at least 10 variants per patient.
Together, these costs ensure the feasibility, quality, and impact of the AURORA project, transforming donor contributions into meaningful scientific results. Every contribution accelerates the discovery of new biomarkers and the development of personalized therapies for pancreatic cancer, bringing real hope to patients and families.
Endorsed by
Project Timeline
The AURORA project begins with its launch and funding phase, enabling sample processing, acquisition of reagents, sequencing resources, and technical support needed to carry out the study. The data will then be carefully analyzed to identify predictive biomarkers, followed by evaluation and reporting phase, during which results are validated, summarized, and shared with both the scientific community and project supporters, ensuring transparency and meaningful impact.
Jan 11, 2026
Project Launched
Feb 17, 2026
Project Launched
Mar 01, 2026
Funding phase
Apr 13, 2026
Sample processing
May 29, 2026
High-depth sequencing
Meet the Team
Team Bio
https://cancergenomics.unisi.it/team/
Elisa Frullanti
Elisa Frullanti completed a PhD in Cancer Genetics of Open University of London at the affiliated center Isitituto Nazionale Tumori (INT, Milan, Italy). She has been working in the field of lung cancer genetics for 10 years first in Milan at INT, and then at University of Siena (2013-today). In INT she conducted her research project aimed to identify functional genetic elements associated with cancer prognosis through genome wide association studies, genetic linkage and transcriptome studies winning in 2010 an AIRC Triennal Fellowship. In 2011 she won the Galilei Young Research Scientist Award Rotary International. From 2019, she will be the group leader of a research project funded by MIUR-PRIN 2017. In the last 5 years, she has introduced in her lab the use of NGS for liquid biopsy as an innovative diagnostic and prognostic technique for the early detection and the dynamical monitoring of cancer growth and resistance. She is currently Associate Professor of Genetics and Director of the Cancer Genomic and Systems Biology Lab (https://cancergenomics.unisi.it/) of the Dept. Medical Biotechnology of the University of Siena. She has extensive experience in the field of omic genetic techniques, in the next-generation sequencing of both germline, somatic and circulating DNA investigating the contribution of germline and somatic genetic variation to cancer susceptibility and outcomes. Her research activity is substantiated by more than 80 original articles in international peer-reviewed scientific journals with a total IF>500 and H-index of 28.
Lab Notes
Nothing posted yet.
Project Backers
- 0Backers
- 0%Funded
- $0Total Donations
- $0Average Donation
