Aaron Diaz

Aaron Diaz has pioneered the use of cerebrospinal fluid-derived ctDNA for real-time monitoring of brain tumor treatment response, developing computational methods that detect tumor-specific mutations in CSF with sensitivity approaching tissue biopsy while enabling serial non-invasive sampling during therapy. His research at UCSF has demonstrated that CSF ctDNA dynamics correlate with radiographic response and can detect treatment failure weeks before imaging changes in glioblastoma patients. His work has opened a new window into monitoring CNS malignancies that were previously inaccessible to liquid biopsy approaches.