Natural Secreted Nano Vesicles as a Source ofNovel Biomass Products for Circular Economy

Objective:

This BioFuture2025 project targets the nano-and micro vesiclesthat are called collectively here as the exosomes. The exosomes represent a new humoral, systemic layer thatcontrolshomeostasis. Since the exosomes are around the size of viruses and that they are also present in saliva, the exosomes may function as a novel bio aerosolclass. The exosomes transmit various types of relevant cellular biomolecules such as proteins, RNA/DNA and the metabolites. Due to these reasons the exosomes may offer openings to target (biological) drugs, image tissues and organs in vivoand ways to develop even non–invasivesurgery therapies at the end. The exosomes can be expected to offer fundamental opportunitiesfor disease diagnostics. Individual exosomes maythemselves serve as biological drugs when produced in mass quantitiesfor medical practise. In summary the exosomes offer important opportunities to develop significant bio economicallyvaluableproducts. In the project we will enrich exosomes from the air, milk and certain other biological fluids. We will define the composition of the exosomes, their nucleic acids and proteins. We will develop better ways to purify the exosomes and to methods to define theirmolecular signatures. With the identified molecular tools we aim to enrich specific types of exosomes. We will then use the enriched exosomes in assays to learn more about their cellular functions and mechanisms of action. We will use nano levelfilters to analyseair and to study if the exosomes may serve as a novel way to characterize qualityof air. We will develop technologiesto enrich and characterize exosomes from milk. We will go on to target theroles of the milk-derivedexosomes in wealth in defined model assay systems. The aim is to reveal the mode of their cellular entry and roles in metabolic control. Moreoverwe will study hownutrition may reflect to the composition of the exosomes and quality of milk and if the milk offers ways to obtain large amounts of exosomes and to generate custom made exosomes for the different sectors of bio economy. Form the obtained data sets we will generate a data bank.

Link: https://www.aka.fi/en/research-and-science-policy/academy-programmes/current-programmes/biofuture2025/