Capturing More of What Matters
Every cancer leaves traces in the bloodstream. Plasma-Sieve is designed to find them, even when they are vanishingly rare.
What is Cell-Free DNA?
Through cell death and other processes, cells of the body release fragments of their genetic material into the bloodstream. This circulating cell-free DNA (cfDNA) is a molecular record of what is happening inside the body.
In cancer patients, a fraction of cfDNA originates from tumor cells. These circulating tumor-derived cfDNA fragments carry the mutations and epigenetic signatures of the tumor, making them detectable markers for non-invasive diagnosis, treatment monitoring, and recurrence surveillance.
The Sampling Problem
Standard Blood Draw
~6,000 human genome equivalents (hGE) of cfDNA. Rare tumor signals are statistically likely to be missed entirely.
Plasma-Sieve
300,000 to 1,200,000 hGE per run. Enough to detect signals that a standard draw would miss with high probability.
Apheresis as a Collection Strategy
Apheresis is a well-established medical technique in which blood is drawn, a specific component is selectively isolated, and the remainder is returned to the patient. The procedure has been used safely in clinical settings for decades — from therapeutic plasma exchange to the routine plasma donations performed daily at blood banks across the country.
Mesa Alta Research applies this approach to cfDNA collection. Rather than extracting DNA from a small 10 mL blood draw, Plasma-Sieve processes a substantially larger volume of plasma, concentrating and capturing cfDNA at yields 50x to 200x greater than the standard approach. The result is microgram-scale cfDNA recovery from a single collection, transforming what is analytically possible from a liquid biopsy.
Key Outcome
50x to 200x more cfDNA from a single collection — shifting liquid biopsy from a nanogram problem to a microgram opportunity.