Blood EVs 

Blood EV Workshop

This is an archival page for the event.

"Blood EVs" was an ISEV Workshop on all things related to extracellular vesicles of blood: how to obtain, profile, and use them. The event was held in Helsinki, Finland, from 1-2 September 2022 and was preceded by an Education Day on 31 August. The Workshop was in-person only, and participants had already been selected and notified. However, there was a virtual option for Education Day. 

This Blood EVs Educational Day was endorsed by the International Society on Thrombosis and Haemostasis.

Download the full program or view below. Short talks and roundtable discussions revolved around four themes:

Day 1. Blood EVs as biomarkers

  • Roundtable 1) Blood as matrix, choosing the sample analytics
  • Roundtable 2) Development of diagnostics, towards clinical feasibility

Day 2. Blood EVs as therapeutics

  • Roundtable 3) Decades of knowledge in transfusion medicine: benefits and disadvantages of blood EVs
  • Roundtable 4) Regulation of novel blood-based nanomedicines

Only ISEV members may attend the Workshop; if you have been invited and are not a member, please visit https://www.isev.org/page/Membership to sign up. A poll on EV practices will be sent out in advance of the meeting. 

Workshop Chairs and Organizing Committee 

Saara Laitinen
Pia Siljander
Metka Lenassi
Ken Witwer
Rienk Nieuwland
Minh Le
Kai Härkönen 

 Full Program (as of 26 Aug 22)

ISEV WORKSHOP – Blood EVs

Educational Day
Wednesday 31.8.2022
“Getting the blood-derived EVs into the clinics”
Moderator Rienk Nieuwland, Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam & Pia Siljander, University of Helsinki

9:00-9.15 General welcome to the Educational day & Blood EV workshop  (Saara Laitinen, Finnish Red Cross Blood Service & Pia Siljander, University of Helsinki)

9:15-9:45 Introduction to blood EVs (Rienk Nieuwland, Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam)

9:45-10:15 Blood as a source of EVs (Edit Buzas, Semmelweis University)

10:15- 10.45 Detection methods for EVs in blood (Ken Witwer, John Hopkins University)

10:45-11:20 BREAK

11:20-11:50 Pre-analytical considerations for blood collection and processing in translational and clinical EV research (Fabrice Lucien-Matteoni, Mayo Clinic)

11:50- 12:20 A clinician's perspective on blood EV biomarkers (Aleksandra Gasecka, Medical University of Warsaw & Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam) 

12:20-13:05 Company presentations (Izon, ParticleMetrix, TimeGate Instruments, BioNavis, Carmine Therapeutics)

LUNCH 13-14:00

14.00-14:30 Reference values of blood EVs (Metka Lenassi, University of Ljubljana)

14:30-15:00 Approaching clinical feasibility with EV flow cytometry (Edwin van der Pol, Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam)

15:00- 15:20 Company presentations (Luminex, Sartorius)

15:20-15:50 BREAK

15:50-16.20 Heterogeneous platelet-EVs: theranostic opportunities? (Pia Siljander, University of Helsinki)

16:20-16:50 Post-isolation modifications of EVs for therapeutic purposes (Minh Le, National University of Singapore)

16:50-17:20 Summary and discussion (Rienk Nieuwland, Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam)

17:20-18:00 Results of the attendant survey & the blood EV analyses by participating technologies

19.00 Welcome reception at the Botanic gardens
sponsored by Finnish Red Cross Blood Service and HansaBioMed Life Sciences

ISEV WORKSHOP on BLOOD EVs

DAY 1 Program Blood EVs – matrix prerequisites & technologies & biomarkers
Thursday 1.9.2022
Moderators Pia Siljander (University of Helsinki), Edit Buzas (Semmelweis University), Rienk Nieuwland (Academic Medical Centre Amsterdam), & Lorraine O’Driscoll (Trinity Collage)

9:00-9:10 Introduction to working in the workshops, Pia Siljander

9:10-9:25 Introduction to the topic: Blood as a source of EVs Part I (Edit Buzas & Rienk Nieuwland)

  • 9:25 Comparison of collection tubes and processing intervals for extracellular vesicle analysis in blood (An Hendrix, Ghent University)
  • 9:35 Influence of isolation and anticoagulant on analysis of plasma-derived EVs by imaging flow cytometry (Tobias Tertel, University Hospital Essen)
  • 9:45 Characterization of platelet-derived extracellular vesicle subpopulations (Johanna Puutio, University of Helsinki)
  • 9:55 Plasma EV ID: Fluorescence-based phenotyping of blood-borne extracellular vesicles (Danilo Mladenovic, Tallin University)
  • 10:05-10:20 questions

5 minutes break

  • 10:25 Label-free detection and characterization of single sub-micrometer particles in plasma of prostate cancer patients (Agustin Enciso-Martinez, Leiden University Medical Center)
  • 10:35 Stratification of Breast cancer risk by Raman Spectroscopy characterization of Extracellular Vesicles (Lorena Signati, University of Milan)
  • 10:45 Optimization of mutational analysis workflow using next-generation sequencing on plasma derived extracellular vesicles (Rebekka van Hoof, Flemish Institute for Technological Research)
  • 10:55-11:10 questions

11:10-11:15 Break and organization into three roundtables

11:15-12:30 Roundtable discussions (60’+ 15’ wrap-up in writing by the moderators)

Topics will raise organically from the participants/ electronic platform or by the chairs, for example

  • What do we need to consider regarding blood EV preanalytics, isolation, analytics, applications?
  • What do we not understand yet?

Table 1 Moderators: Rienk Nieuwland/Pia Siljander

Table 2 Moderators: John Nolan/Edwin van der Pol

Table 3 Moderators: Ann Hendrix/Metka Lenassi

LUNCH 12:30-13:30

13:30-14:00 Highlights from the morning discussions by roundtable moderators (3 x 5 minutes & audience)

14:00-14:15 Introduction to the topic: Biomarker applications of the blood EV surface Part I (Lorraine O’Driscoll, Trinity College)

  • 14:10 Blood EV protein corona: The opening of a new biomarker discovery landscape? (Annalisa Radeghieri, University of Brescia/CSGI, Florence)
  • 14:20 Tumour-derived DNA is enriched as short fragments associated with extracellular vesicles (Daniel Hagey, Karolinska Institutet)
  • 14:30 The HLA-I immunopeptidome of blood EV -detection of clinically relevant peptides (Simon Powis, University of St. Andrews)
  • 14:40-14:55 Questions

14:55-15:25 COFFEE

Biomarker applications of the blood EV surface Part II

  • 15:25 Methods comparison for plasma-derived EVs isolation to perform proteomics analysis (Sandrine Reymond, University of Geneva)
  • 15:35 Identification of B-cell signatures in plasma EVs from pediatric BCP-ALL patients (Marit Inngjerdingen, Oslo University Hospital)
  • 15:45 Circulating extracellular vesicles provide valuable protein biomarkers in metastatic breast cancer (Lorena Martin-Jaular, Institut Curie)
  • 15.45-16:00 questions

10 minutes break & moving to roundtables

16:10-17:25 Roundtable discussions (60’+ 15’ wrap-up in writing by the moderators)

Topics will raise organically from the participants/ electronic platform or by the chairs

Table 1 Moderators Lorraine O’Driscoll/Natasha Zavroni

Table 2 Moderators Annalisa Radeghieri/Mari Palviainen

Table3 Moderators Ken Witwer/Fabrice Lucien-Matteoni

5 minutes break & moving to main hall

17:30-18:00 Highlights shared from the afternoon discussions (3 x 5 min & audience)

ISEV WORKSHOP on BLOOD EVs

DAY 2 Program Blood EVs as Therapeutics
Friday 2.9.2022
Moderators Minh Le & Saara Laitinen 

9.00-9.30 Introduction to topics: Blood as a therapeutic EV source and in delivery of EV-therapy

Standing on the shoulders of giants, decades of transfusion & blood cell therapy (Saara Laitinen, Finnish Red Cross Blood Service)

Potential therapeutic applications of blood cell derived EVs (Minh Le, National University of Singapore)

  • 9:30 Using plasma derived EVs as drug delivery vehicles (Maria Chiara Ferri, University of Genova)
  • 9:40 Delivery of therapeutic mRNA via extracellular vesicles to express soluble proteins (Muhammed Nawaz, University of Gothenburg)
  • 9:50 Development of designed targeting peptides for EV (Sujaan Das, Crane Biosciences)
  • 10:00 Questions & discussion
  • 10:15 Developing functional RBC based drug delivery (Diana Piedrahita, Erytech Pharma)
  • 10:25 Characterising safety and efficacy of RBC-EV as therapeutic delivery vehicles for retinal degenerations (Rakshanya Sekar, Australia National University)
  • 10:35 Using RBC-EVs as drug delivery particles (Don Haut, Carmine Therapeutics)
  • 10:45- 11:00 questions

11.00-11.15 Break and organization into three roundtables

Suggestions for roundtable discussion topics in addition to those which are raised organically

  • Standing on the shoulders of giants, decades of transfusion knowledge
  • Why and what we should consider?
  • Benefits and disadvantages of using RBC-EVs as therapeutics
  • Technologies for loading and targeting of RBC EVs
  • Blood group and tissue type: challenge or opportunity?
  • The effect of blood components on delivering EV
  • Blood - friendly highway or hostile environment?
  • The effect of processing and storage on EVs

11.15-13.00 Roundtable discussions

Roundtable 1 Red blood cell -derived nanobiotechnology
Moderators Minh Le & Kai Härkönen

Roundtable 2 Different blood cell derived EVs for therapy development
Moderators Saara Laitinen & Ulla Impola

Roundtable 3 Lessons learned from blood EVs: is there advantage?
Moderators Edith Buzas & Pia Siljander

LUNCH 13:00 – 14:00

14:00-15:00 Wrap-up the Roundtables (Big hall)

15:00 Coffee

15:30-17:00 Summary of the Workshop Days 1 & 2

Moderators: Saara Laitinen & Pia Siljander & Rienk Nieuwland

Wrap up of the three days into deliverables

  • Impact and considerations of technological choices on blood EV isolation, detection and analyses (data from blood EVs and sponsor analytics, survey, roundtable outcomes)
  • Therapeutic use of blood cell -derived EVs

What should we have discussed and what next?