For the very first time, the ISEV annual meeting was held in the Asia-Pacific region in Kyoto, Japan. The 8th Congress of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles ( ISEV2019 ) was a good event for colleagues and scientists from around the world that gather together for the most unique educational experience in Extracellular Vesicles that was held from the 24th to the 28th of April.

The congress covered all basic biological aspects of exosomes, microvesicles, apoptotic bodies and synthetic vesicles, as well as clinical and translational research. It was a unique occasion to interact with experts and top-researchers, to get new ideas, but also, to contribute in the development of this growing and passionate field with opportunities to impact in different socio-economical areas including the food industry, environment and, importantly, clinics. This was an effective and dynamic program that included educational sessions for beginners, along with the latest advances of the field touching both fundamental and clinical aspects. The program offered ample opportunities to engage speakers and colleagues in both large and small settings, appealing to every learning style and the customized education you want. Speakers presented the latest research and advances, coupled with their expert interpretation of how this information applies to your own research and practice. The Exhibition was an opportunity to interact closely with companies leading the development of new tools for studying Extracellular Vesicles. ISEV2019 began with Education Day, covering major topics in EV research and was chance to hear from experts reviewing these. The program was extended to four concurrent sessions on two days of the meeting to accommodate further oral presentations.

VES4US participation in ISEV 2019

From the VES4US consortium, Antonella Bongiovanni, Gabriella Pocsfalvi and Antonella Cusimano have been in Kyoto for the annual meeting of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles. “By bringing together about 1000 delegates from all over the world, the ISEV conference program as previous years was very intense and scientifically challenging”, explains Antonella.

VES4US actively participated in all ISEV 2019 events with the general purpose to disseminate the main aims and the achieved results of the consortium. On Education Day, Tuesday 23 April 15:25-17:25 Session 4: Therapeutics application of EVs (Chair: Raghu Kalluri), Antonella Bongiovanni was invited to give a talk on the potential of plant-derived EVs for therapeutic application during the education day in program entitled “Therapeutic application of plant-based EVs”. Bongiovanni explained in the presentation that plants and other natural resources, like those investigated by VES4US are of great expectation as alternative EV bioproducers respect to stem cells.

VES4US also participated in the National Societies Meeting, Special Hall A, Level B1, Special Hall, Miyakomesse at 7.30 Friday 26 April 2019. VES4US representatives were formally invited to participate at the National society’s/Networks breakfast meeting in 26 April 2019 to present the consortium’s aims and its relation to the ISEV and other international and national societies. A. Bongiovanni, A. Cusimano and G. Pocsfalvi attended this meeting together with other 20 EV-related societies/networks.

Our three representatives also presented VES4US poster in the 3rd floor hall during the entire duration of the meeting, receiving great attention from coordinator and member of other project network, as for instance the TRAIN-EV (Training in extracellular vesicles) project coordinator. They also presented two other project scientific posters at ISEV2019.

Our project coordinator, Antonella Bongiovanni, chaired Saturday Poster Session PS01: Engineering and Loading EVs Chairs: Hang Hubert Yin; Antonella Bongiovanni on Saturday. And, Pocsfalvi and A. Bongiovanni visited several boots and met representatives of various EV related companies at ISEV 2019. In particular, they discussed future technology objectives with Fujifilm, Spectradyne, Beckman coulter, Humanmetabolome, Sysmex corporation and JVC Kenwood corporation, FiberCellSystem kdbio, Particle metrix, etc.

Furthermore, they talked about future possible exploitation of VES4US results with CEOs of companies (e.g., Rosetta Exosome Inc. and HansaBioMed Life Sciences), VES4US stakeholder companies.

In 2019, ISEV had a record number of abstract submissions for the annual ISEV meeting and this reflects the growing recognition of the field and the numbers of researchers now working on extracellular vesicles.