Associate Professor Joy Wolfram - Extracellular vesicles for therapeutic and diagnostic applications

Speaker

Associate Professor Joy Wolfram, School of Chemical and Engineering, UQ.

Abstract

Extracellular vesicles are naturally occurring nanoparticles that are released by all cells and serve important roles in physiological and pathological processes. Therefore, extracellular vesicles have promising applications as therapeutic agents, drug targets, delivery vehicles, and biomarkers. Although the medical use of extracellular vesicles is promising, clinical translation has been hindered due to inefficient, unreliable, and non-scalable methods of isolation, for example, ultracentrifugation. To overcome these issues, my research program has developed improved techniques for isolation of extracellular vesicles, such as robust and scalable tangential flow filtration. These methods have opened up many opportunities for diagnostic and therapeutic use of extracellular vesicles, two of which will be highlighted in this talk: i) lipoaspirate-derived extracellular vesicles for treating inflammation and ii) understanding the role and application of the extracellular vesicle glycome in metastatic disease.

Bio

Associate Professor Joy Wolfram leads a nanomedicine research laboratory with the goal of developing innovative approaches that bring the next generation of treatments and diagnostics directly to the clinic.