Evangelia Christou - Secondment from HPI to ICFC

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 isolation. The collected supernatants were clarified and subsequently used for EV capture through bead-based approaches using magnetic and polymethacrylate carriers. The isolated EVs were further characterized in terms of quantity through protein determination and lipid quantification. In addition, Evangelia participated in the preparation and functional modification of polymethacrylate beads through the immobilization of specific nanobodies. These nanobodies were produced and purified using metal affinity chromatography prior to their use in bead functionalization for immunoaffinitybased EV capture.

This secondment strengthened her expertise in extracellular vesicle isolation, nanobody purification, and affinity-based capture strategies, while contributing to the preparation of biological materials for the forthcoming nanobody panning experiments to be conducted at the University of Nova Gorica.