Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been an interest of mine for many years, spanning graduate school to my present role at Astellas. I received my PhD at the University of Illinois at Chicago where I explored the cellular function and biomarker potential of extracellular vesicles in the field of oncology. From there, my post-doctoral work at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center focused on the role of colon cancer extracellular vesicles in the expansion of disease. While EVs certainly can play a large role in cancer pathogenesis, I began to refine my interests and wanted to explore the therapeutic potential of stem cell derived EVs.
My present role as Principal Scientist at Astellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AIRM) has been extremely fulfilling as I’ve had the experience of building out a platform for early discovery of extracellular vesicle-based therapeutics. We’ve had a few early-stage successes with promising preclinical data for AIRM EVs and I am looking forward to expanding our applications to meet clinical need.
