Extracellular Vesicle Enrichment for Early Cancer Diagnostics

Focus: Development of acoustochromatography for high-purity EV isolation from microlitre-scale biofluids.

Description:
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanoscale lipid bilayer particles (30–1000 nm) released by virtually all mammalian cells, carrying proteins, RNA, and lipids that reflect the molecular state of their source. Their ability to traverse biological barriers and mediate intercellular signaling makes them powerful targets for liquid biopsy and theranostic applications. However, isolating EVs from complex matrices such as blood plasma remains challenging due to the nanometer size, co-isolates such as lipoproteins, and high protein background.

To overcome these limitations, our group develops acoustochromatography systems that exploit ultrasound to enrich EVs directly from microlitre-scale blood plasma samples. Acoustic radiation forces enable label-free separation based on particle size, density, and compressibility, allowing for continuous, in-flow enrichment of EVs while maintaining their structural integrity. This approach achieves unprecedented purity and recovery, enabling downstream proteomics profiling. We are now extending this technology towards EV subpopulation fractionation and integrated analysis workflows for early cancer diagnostics and therapeutic monitoring.

Selected publications:
• M. S. Gerlt, T. Laurell, “Acoustofluidic Chromatography for Extracellular Vesicle Enrichment from 4 µL Blood Plasma Samples”, Analytical Chemistry 97, 6049–6058 (2025).