NEXUS (DCM.AD006.410)
Thematic area
Chemical sciences and materials technology
Project area
Chimica e tecnologia dei materiali (DCM.AD006)Structure responsible for the research project
Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie Chimiche "Giulio Natta" (SCITEC)
Project manager
MARCELLA CHIARI
Phone number: 0228500035
Email: marcella.chiari@scitec.cnr.it
Abstract
The NEXUS project will develop antibodies and ligands to be used in a customizable integrated platform that enables enrichment and characterization of biomarkers from complex biofluids. s Different classes of biomarkers will be considered including: Extracellular vesicles (EVs), proteins and DNA. The project will mainly focus on EVs and their cargo analysis. EVs is a general term that encloses a heterogeneous group of cell-released membranous vesicles, abundantly present in body fluids from which they can be extracted in a non-invasive manner. Their surface markers and cargo (proteins, nucleic acids, glycans, lipids) represent an ideal source of diagnostic, prognostic and efficacy biomarkers, providing real-time information on all tissue homeostasis alterations. However, their detection and molecular profiling is technically challenging due to their heterogeneity and physical characteristics. The project aims at developing selective sequential isolation and multimodal phenotyping of small EVs (sEVs) based on the integration of isolation and in situ enrichment of cancer sEVs from plasma together with the multiparameter analysis regarding vesicle size, number and phenotype
Goals
The main goal of the project is the integration of the two fundamental steps for EV isolation and characterization:
1. Affinity isolation and in situ enrichment of target (cancer) sEVs from plasma in a way to obtain pure, integral, and concentrated vesicles and
2. Multiparameter analysis giving the simultaneous information on vesicle size, number and phenotype.
The project NEXUS aims at developing chemical/biochemical components and integrating them into a full-fledged analytical tool, characterised by an appealing "sample in - result out" design and featuring a real time in liquid measurement of scalable sample volumes. This is expected to dramatically speed up the adoption of EVs as biomarkers in cancer progression and treatment.
Start date of activity
08/10/2021
Keywords
Extracellular vesicles, biosensing, biomarkers
Last update: 07/06/2025