Biosciences Research Seminar - Extracellular vesicles - developmental signals with biomedical potential

Extracellular vesicles (EV) are membrane particles secreted from cells into all body fluids. They convey signals that induce long-term changes in cellular behavior. During development, EV secretion and the specific loading of signalling factors in EVs contributes to organ development and tissue differentiation.  However, during tumor development, deregulated cargo loading and EV secretion contributes to malignant progression. Different biomolecules such as proteins, lipids and nucleic acids transmit these signals and the content, size, and membrane composition of EVs are highly dynamic and depend on the cellular source, state, and environmental conditions.

On the one hand, my lab is interested in morphogen signaling via extracellular vesicles and how endocytic trafficking contributes to signaling specificity and determines fates. I will talk about our recent understanding of endosomal trafficking of Wnt proteins mediated by SNARE Ykt6 and kinesin Klp98A in the wing imaginal disc.

On the other hand, tumor-derived extracellular vesicles (EVs) play an important role in proliferation and migration of cancer cells. We work towards better understanding the cargo loading and cargo function of tumor-derived EV to provide potential targets for early diagnostics.