Characterisation of extracellular vescicles

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are cell-derived, membranous particles that mediate intercellular communication by transferring biomolecules such as proteins and RNAs. The discovery of EVs as natural biocarriers and inter-species communication means has raised great interest in the drug delivery field. EVs intrinsically possess many attributes of a drug delivery vehicle, since these particles are well tolerated in the body, have long circulating half-life, are internalised by recipient cells and are able of crossing the blood brain barrier. Our research activity is dedicated to the biophysical characterization of vesicles from various natural sources, including pathological cell lines.
The activity is currently included in the European initiative VES4US, that has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement N. 801338: https://cordis.europa.eu/project/rcn/216332_en.html & (soon): www.ves4us.eu

Members:
Miriam Buttacavoli
Rita Carrotta
Fabio Librizzi
Mauro Manno (Principal investigator)
Vincenzo Martorana
Samuele Raccosta