As part of the EXPAND-EV project, Evangelia Christou from the Hellenic Pasteur Institute completed a research secondment at the University of Nova Gorica from April 17 to May 22, 2026. Her stay focused on cell-based panning and screening of phage-displayed nanobody libraries against liver cancer-associated targets, alongside recombinant H1 protein production and purification. During this period, she performed cell-based panning experiments using IHH cells as negative controls

As part of the EXPAND-EV project, Andrej Milivojac from the University of Belgrade-Faculty of Chemistry (UBFC) spent a month at the GENOS lab in Zagreb, Croatia. During the first period of his split secondment at the Genos laboratory in Zagreb, Andrej worked on the glycomic characterization of nano-antibodies specific for cancer-related human extracellular vesicles (EVs). The training will continue during the Fall of 2026, the second period of Andrej’s split secondment.

Teodora Cato from the Institute of Oncology and Radiology of Serbia (IORS) spent the month of April 2026 at Vall d‘Hebron Research Institute (VHIR), in Bercelona, Spain. During her secondment, Teodora focused on the functional characterization of various HCC1806 breast cancer cell line variants, including those transduced with AlfaTag-mClover lentiviral constructs, utilizing colony formation (CFA), spheroid formation (SFA), and invasion assays monitored via confocal microscop

Dr. Milena Čavić from the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia participated as a speaker at two national events in April 2026 in Belgrade and Nis, elaborating on strategies and projects dedicated to cancer prevention, early detection and timely interventions. The seminar - panel discussions "Precise public health and innovative approaches in the prevention and early detection of oncological diseases: importance for public health policy" were organized by professor B

Nikol Mraz from partner GENOS spent a month at UNG , as part of the EXPAND-EV project. During the secondment, Nikol participated in laboratory activities focused on acquiring both fundamental and more advanced techniques in molecular biology and biochemistry, with a particular emphasis on methods relevant to extracellular vesicle (EV) research. Nikol became familiar with cell culture procedures and took part in the preparation and maintenance of experimental systems that for

Miodrag Vukovic from IORS performed his secondment at partner GENOS , as part of the EXPAND-EV project. During his visit to Genos laboratory in Zagreb, Miodrag gained hands-on insight into experimental workflows for glycan preparation and analysis using mass spectrometry. He participated in the optimization of protocol for glycomic profiling of extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from breast and pancreatic cancer cell lines. This experience strengthened his understanding of

Luka from partner IORS performed his secondment at GENOS , in the context of the EXPAND-EV project. During his stay at the Genos laboratory in Zagreb, Luka had the opportunity to engage in glycan analysis workflow. He obtained experience in preparation of biological samples for subsequent glycomic analysis, as well as in the glycomic analysis itself, done on mass spectrometry. This experience expanded his understanding on the workflow of glycan analysis, which can be used fo

On March 19, 2026. Dr Milena Čavić participated as an invited lecturer at the 3rd Annual Conference of the Alliance for Global Implementation of Lung and Cardiac Early Disease Detection and Treatment (AGILEDxRx) organized by the International Early Lung Cancer Action Program (I-ELCAP) in in Gdańsk, Poland. Dr. Čavić presented results of several lung cancer research projects and initiatives from Serbia, highlighting EXPAND-EV 's efforts of profiling new clinically significan

During her research secondment under the EXPAND-EV project, Evangelia Christou from the Hellenic Pasteur Institute (HPI) joined the Innovative Centre of the Faculty of Chemistry (ICFC) from January 30 to March 25, 2026. Her work focused on isolating and characterizing extracellular vesicles (EVs) and preparing nanobody-based tools for EV targeting. During this period, she performed mammalian cell culture and processed conditioned media from several human cell lines for EV i

On March 16th, 2026, EXPAND-EV hosted the MISEV Webinar: Minimal Information for Studies of Extracellular Vesicles , organized by partner ICFC bringing together experts to discuss key methodological standards and practices in extracellular vesicle research in line with MISEV2023 recommendations. The webinar featured insightful presentations from our lecturers: EV Nomenclature and Classification According to MISEV2023 – Marija Tursunović (UBFC) Isolation and Separation Methods

This year, we celebrate an important anniversary: 30 years of the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions , one of Europe’s flagship programmes for supporting research talent and international collaboration. Named after the pioneering scientist Marie Skłodowska-Curie, whose groundbreaking work transformed modern science, the programme has, over the past three decades, helped more than 150,000 researchers develop their careers through mobility, training and cross-sector exchange. As an

On Thursday, 5 March 2026, the partners of the EXPAND-EV project gathered for the project’s Mid-Term Meeting, marking an important milestone in the implementation of the action. The meeting brought together representatives from all partner institutions, together with the Project Officer, to review the progress achieved during the first phase of the project and to discuss the next steps for the remaining implementation period. A central part of the meeting was dedicated to pre

Welcome to the second issue of the EXPAND-EV Newsletter ! Discover the latest updates of the last months and stay informed about our ongoing activities.

Niki Vassilaki from HPI revisited RWTH University as part of the EXPAND-EV Staff Exchanges project, where she isolated extracellular vesicles (EVs) from the supernatants of Nicotiana tabacum cv. BY-2 suspension cultures, following optimized purification protocols to ensure purity and integrity. These EVs will be then used as target substrates in panning experiments at UNG University, where a phage display nanobody library will be screened. This will enable the identificatio

In January and February, Ana completed a one-month secondment at Genos . During her visit, she was trained to conduct experiments focused on protein glycosylation across various biological samples. She also learned about standard laboratory procedures and experimental workflows used in EV-related research, gaining insight into the practical implementation of these methodologies. She also learned about the impact of various diseases on protein glycosylation and their relevance

As part of the EXPAND EV project, Claudia D’Ercole from the University of Nova Gorica completed a three-month secondment at RWTH Aachen University . During this period, she focused on optimizing the expression of two recombinant proteins (a nanobody against CD30 and the extracellular domain of PD-1) using a cell-free expression system. Protein expression was evaluated in different cellular compartments (microsomes and cytosol), selected according to the post-translational m

Teodora Cato from the Institute for Oncology and Radiology of Serbia (IORS) spent 1 month at the end of 2025, at Vall d‘Hebron Research Institute , in Barcelona, Spain. During her secondment, Teodora focused on the large-scale culture of MDA-MB-231 breast cancer cell lines and the isolation of extracellular vesicles (EVs) for downstream proteomics and glycomics analyses. She gained hands-on experience in large-scale cell culture for EV-conditioned media collection, as well a

As part of the EXPAND EV project, Vanja Stevanović completed her secondment from IORS to partner GENOS . During her stay at the Genos laboratory in Zagreb, Vanja had the opportunity to engage in cutting-edge research on extracellular vesicles (EVs). The project focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying EVs and their potential applications in disease diagnostics and therapeutics. By working with advanced technologies and expert researchers, she gained valu

Lidija Filipović from partner Innovative Centre Faculty of Chemistry Belgrade spent a month at Hellenic Pasteur Institute , under the EXPAND-EV project. During the secondment, an antibody-based protocol for extracellular vesicles (EVs) isolation from human plasma using the MojoSort CD81 Microbead Exosomes kit was successfully optimized. Key modifications included replacing the filtration step with low-speed centrifugation (1200 × g, 15 min) to minimize EV loss, and extending

As part of the EXPAND-EV project, Matteo De March from University of Nova Gorica spent three months at the Genos Lab in Zagreb, Croatia. During his stay, Matteo participated in wet-lab activities to optimize the protocol for extraction and preparation of N-glycans from tumour cell line-derived EVs. Preliminary UPLC analyses were done to asses sample suitability for the MS-based glycan fingerprint. This secondment enabled the establishment of joined collaboration connecting