EVEREST Project aims to revolutionise study of extracellular vesicles

Posted on: 07 November 2024

From January 2025, the new EVEREST project, bringing together 21 leading institutions including Trinity College Dublin, will push the frontiers of biomedical research by exploring the transformative potential of extracellular vesicles (EVs).

EVs are small particles that act as messengers between cells which could transform early diagnosis and targeted treatments for diseases such as cancer and cardiovascular conditions. EVs carry proteins, lipids, and nucleic acids, making them key vehicles for cell-to-cell communication.

EVEREST will focus on standardising methods for isolating and characterising these vesicles, facilitating their use in non-invasive diagnostics and personalised therapies to improve the precision and effectiveness of treatments for complex diseases.

The project, funded through the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) programme under Horizon Europe, has a budget of €1,311,000 and will run for four years, starting in January 2025.

EVEREST consortium benefits from the MSCA Staff Exchange programme, which provides funding opportunities for international, interdisciplinary collaboration. The programme fosters knowledge exchange and innovation, driving the development of solutions that can address global challenges in healthcare.

EV research has been of substantial interest to Trinity since 2008, when Trinity established it as a then-niche area of research in Ireland, progressing to lead the world’s largest funded research consortia on fundamental, translational, and clinical aspects of EVs, collaborating with multiple academic, clinical and industry partners in this space.

Professor Lorraine O’Driscoll, the EVEREST project coordinator at Trinity, said: “EVEREST, funded as an MSCA Staff Exchange programme, will give us an opportunity to further expand interactions and training with EVs research teams in academia and industry in Europe. This will likely further advance our on-going research programmes on EVs as cancer biomarkers, as drug delivery vehicles, as vaccines, in bone development and repair, as potential therapeutics in rheumatoid arthritis and in hip replacements. We are excited to see what new opportunities EVEREST may bring”.

The EVEREST consortium unites top academic and non-academic partners across Europe. Academic members include University College Dublin, Trinity, University of Vigo (Spain), Universidade Nova de Lisboa (Portugal), Luxembourg Institute of Science and Technology (Luxembourg), Justus-Liebig University Giessen (Germany), South East Technological University (Ireland), Linköping University (Sweden), Comenius University Bratislava (Slovakia), Queen’s University Belfast (UK), State Research Institute Centre for Innovative Medicine (Lithuania), and Fundación Progreso y Salud GENYO (Spain). Non-academic partners include SiriusXT (Ireland), Bioreperia (Sweden), Fox Biosystems (Belgium), Pharmahungary (Hungary), Acousort AB (Sweden), Mursla (UK), Xenopat (Spain), De Rotos y Descosidos (Spain), and Vesiculab Ltd (UK). This multidisciplinary and cross-sector approach enables the project to cover everything from basic research to commercial application, maximising the impact of scientific advances on clinical and societal outcomes.

ENDS

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