Abstract

The Role of Core Facilities and Emerging Technologies in Maximizing Rigor and Reproducibility of EV Quantification and Characterization and Following MISEV Guidelines

Rachel DeRita, Director, Extracellular Vesicle Core Facility, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary medicine

It remains very clear in the field of extracellular vesicle (EV) research that the rapid rate of increase in publications and expansion of interdisciplinary clinical EV interest has created the need for increased standardization and access to the appropriate technologies to uphold these standards. As the first core facility in the United States with the sole intention of creating a space where users can both isolate and characterize EVs, we provide a central location for the facilitation of EV research via access to multiple technologies (both established and emerging) such as resistive pulse sensing, nanoparticle tracking analysis, ultracentrifugation, high-performance liquid chromatography, flow cytometric analysis of EVs and additional immune or fluorescence-based EV characterization techniques. We surveyed a group of leading scientific investigators and researchers in varying stages of their scientific careers in the Mid-Atlantic region of the US.  The survey data demonstrate applications of greatest current and future interest to be employed in a shared lab resource. The current demand is highest for isolation services, ultracentrifugation and NTA, with a gradually increasing demand for immunophenotying analyses such as the ExoView chip array, fluorescent NTA and flow cytometry. We additionally present strategies and data-based examples of how shared resource facilities can facilitate multifactorial and rigorous EV characterization in accordance with MISEV guidelines, and encourage collaboration among EV researchers. In order to answer the larger remaining questions in the EV field such as the isolation of specific EV subsets, EV tracking between cells and the use of EVs for biomarker discovery and drug delivery, it is essential that shared resource facilities interact not only with investigators, but with each other to integrate the necessary resources to progress.