Extracellular Vesicle Research Group
Extracellular vesicles (including exosomes) are nanovesicles released by cells, which contain proteins, mRNAs and microRNAs. In non-renal contexts they have various physiological functions including inter-cellular transfer of proteins and RNA, facilitation of immune responses, and modulation of the anti-apoptotic response. Urinary extracellular vesicles are also a rich source of potential biomarkers, since their membranes are composed of apical proteins from all nephron segments and they contain nucleic acid and protein cargo from the cell of origin.
I am currently a visiting research fellow in the Karet laboratory (Cambridge Institute of Medical Research), and our laboratory has demonstrated that urinary exosomes are bactericidal (Hiemstra et al, 2014), and contain microRNAs capable of paracrine modulation of tubular membrane transporters in vitro (Gracia et al, 2017). The current focus of my research is to investigate two properties of extracellular vesicles (EVs) that are relevant to renal and urinary tract disorders, namely; the utility of EVs as a source of biomarkers of renal diseases, and the clinical significance of the bactericidal activity of urinary exosomes/EVs.
I am also interested in novel biomarkers for chronic kidney disease (CKD) in cats and urothelial cell carcinoma in dogs that might allow veterinarians to detect these diseases at an earlier stage. This would allow managemental strategies to be instituted sooner when they might be more effective, thus reducing morbidity and mortality.