Microtechnologies Focusing on Exosomes

Dear Colleagues,

Exosomes are nanometer-scale membrane vesicles initially thought to be cellular debris, but now increasingly appreciated as key vehicles of cell-to-cell communication. Shed by most cells, exosomes carry a valuable cargo of proteins and nucleic acids signaling the parent cell’s state. Present in nearly all bodily fluids, they offer tremendous potential for disease diagnosis and prognosis, particularly cancer, through minimally-invasive liquid biopsy. They could also be used as vaccine candidates and drug carriers, delivering therapeutic agents to target cells. Research on exosomes continues to grow, with exciting discoveries gradually revealing their physiological significance and suggesting the potential for far-reaching clinical impact. The pace of discovery is limited, however, by the lack of effective preparatory and analytical techniques. Methods of exosome isolation often include ultracentrifugation, co-precipitation, filtration, size-exclusion chromatography, and immunoaffinity. However, these methods suffer from bulky and costly instrumentation, as well as lengthy and laborious processing. Importantly, major sample loss including low yield and recovery is a fundamental issue hindering many of these conventional methods. Microdevices by virtue of their small size can minimize sample loss while enhancing the purity and yield of exosomes isolated from complex biofluids. We dedicate this Special Issue to microdevices promoting a wave of progress in exosome research and clinical applications.

Dr. Levent Yobas
Guest Editor

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• exosomes
• extracellular vesicles
• nanoparticles
• microfluidics
• nanofluidics
• microdevices