Determining the mechanisms of extracellular vesicle release, function, and clearance

Project Summary/Abstract Cells release extracellular vesicles (EVs) that carry signals to alter cell fate or metabolism, promote invasive behavior, or modulate the immune response. EVs show great potential as diagnostic biomarkers for disease progression, especially in inflammation and cancer. EVs also show promise as a platform for targeted drug

delivery, given their ability to signal to and be taken up by cells. Furthermore, EVs can be degraded via phagocytosis, providing metabolites to the engulfing cell. Despite the interest in EVs, basic cell biological knowledge about EV biogenesis, targeting, cargo transfer, and in vivo function is lacking, largely due to the

challenges of imaging