LABORIOUS

Start date: 1 May 2024

End date: 31 October  2025

Grant agreement ID: 101158233

Exosome-based therapies are among the hottest topics in biomedical research, driven by the unique properties of exosomes regarding stability, low immunogenicity, prolonged circulation and especially, selective targeting. In 2022, over 50 clinical trials using exosomes for therapy were under way, in diseases ranging from cancer to diabetes to central nervous system disorders. However, both current research on exosomes and their future translation into clinical therapies are hindered by two significant problems. The first is the isolation of exosomes (and of extracellular vesicles in general), a highly challenging task due to:

i) the high complexity of the body fluids that contain them, and 

ii) the delicate nature of exosomes themselves: soft entities of 50-150 nm whose membrane is responsible for key properties and must be preserved. 

Ultracentrifugation, the standard isolation method, has clear limitations: low yields, impurity of the products and damage to exosomal membranes due to long processing times at high g. While numerous alternatives have been commercialized (size, affinity and precipitation-based methods), these issues remain unsolved. The second problem relates to the loading of therapeutic agents (nanoparticles, drugs, siRNA, miRNA), into exosomes without damaging their membranes, another challenge without a solution today.
LABORIOUS leverages the experience gained in AdG CADENCE to propose innovative solutions. A novel tangential filtration procedure will segregate exosomes by size, removing impurities and minimizing pressure-induced membrane damage. Also, a pioneering continuous electroporation system will provide unprecedented control, allowing the load of therapeutic cargo with minimal membrane disruption. Results will be closely monitored for patenting and commercialization, in collaboration with an industrial observer.

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