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Extracellular Vesicles and
Mass spectrometry Laboratory

Extracellular vesicles and Mass Spectrometry Laboratory located at the Institute of Biosciences and BioResources, National Research Council of Italy, is focused on EVs isolated from natural resources including microalgae and probiotics as well as from biological fluids. Besides EVs, we also study complex mixtures of intra and extracellular nano-sized vesicles extracted from different parts of edible and medicinal plants and their biogenic substances. These innovative biomaterials are under exploitation in our lab due to their anti-inflammatory, anticancer, and tissue regenerative properties as well as their action on the gut microbiome. We are interested to turn the vesicles into next-generation nanovectors for molecular delivery.

EVs & MS group is specialized in the production of EVs using different isolation methods. We develop and apply mass spectrometry-based methods to increase the overall power of molecular characterization of vesicles. Our approach relies on the integration of chemistry, biochemistry, mass spectrometry-based omics studies, and bioinformatics. EVs & MS group houses hyphenated 2D-nano-HPLC-ESI-QTOF and GC-QqQ mass spectrometers, a protein sequencer, and an array of advanced separation techniques. We are part of Cell-Tech-Hub technological platform that gathers interdisciplinary competencies in the EV field and are actively involved in numerous collaborations, ongoing European projects with the following specific expertise:

mass spectrometry and proteomics
protein and peptide sequencing
GC-MS/MS analysis

Extracellular Vesicles

All living organisms actively shed nanometer-sized organelles called extracellular vesicles (EVs) into the environment. EV is characterized by a liquid compartment, which is separated from the surrounding by a closed biological membrane.

They represent a new paradigm in medicine and biology due to their ability to carry and transfer complex functional biological material composed of proteins, RNAs, lipids and metabolites to recipient cells. The role of EVs in intercellular and interspecies communications, immune regulation, cancer and viral infection is increasingly recognised today.

Publications

The mission of EVs & MS is focused on the isolation and molecular characterization of EVs. We develop mass spectrometry-based strategies to study the biocargo and structure-bioactivity relationship of EVs.