Tech4EVIta workshop

The Tech4EVIta workshop organized by the Italian Society of ExtraCellular Vesicles took place in Trieste from 18 to 20 September. Three days of incredible scientific discussions and networking held between Area Science Park, Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste and the TASC laboratory of the CNR-IOM.

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are small vesicles produced and secreted by cells, between 30 nanometers and one micron in size, present in all body fluids, transporting precious material, such as pieces of RNA and proteins, inside them and on their surface. Initially considered as bags of "garbage" released by cells, in recent years they have been discovered to play a fundamental role in communication between cells: they can in fact influence the behavior of the cells that receive them by changing their physical/chemical properties and biological functionality. For this reason, they are of great interest both for early diagnosis in liquid biopsy (in fact, they carry messages from the cell that originates them) and for regenerative medicine (they can be used to "repair" diseased cells or damaged tissues).

The event, focused on advanced technologies for the isolation and characterization of EVs, was divided into two scientific sessions, opened by the institutional interventions of the President of EVIta Benedetta Bussolati and the President of Area Science Park, Caterina Petrillo, as well as the local organizers, Loredana Casalis (Elettra Sincrotrone Trieste) and Pietro Parisse (CNR-IOM).

The introductory part, which saw seminars by international experts in the field and selected contributions from the reference community, was organized at the facilities of Area Science Park in Padriciano, together with networking events. The first session of the Workshop, in particular, was organized as a tribute to Marina Cretich, researcher at the Institute of Chemical Sciences and Technologies of the CNR and active member of the board of directors of EVIta, who died prematurely, who had strongly supported Trieste as the venue for a workshop dedicated to advanced technologies for extracellular vesicles. Paolo Arosio then introduced the participants to the physical-chemical challenges of the EV world.