Abstract

Isolation and Characterization of Extracellular Vesicles; An Integrated, High-Precision and Standardizable Approach

Shayne Harrel, Chief Scientist-Americas, iZON Science Ltd.

Tremendous interest exists towards the development and implementation of extracellular vesicles (EVs) in bio-fluids as rich sources of diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers.  EVs derived from bio-fluids exhibit extensive heterogeneity with regards to particle size, concentration, membrane composition and cargo resulting in unique challenges in terms of EVs isolation and characterization.  We present an approach to purify EVs from complex bio-fluids using Izon’s qEV line of size exclusion chromatography (SEC) based columns, resulting in a highly pure and unperturbed sample.  Reproducibility and standardization is enhanced by incorporating Izon’s Automated Fraction Collector (AFC) into the isolation.  Tunable Resistive Pulse Sensing (TRPS) is used to characterize the biophysical properties (size, concentration and Zeta Potential) of purified EVs.  TRPS measurements are conducted at the single particle level and results are compared against a known standard, ensuring the accuracy, repeatability and traceability of the data.