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Dear CzeSEV members and colleagues,
we are pleased to bring you another issue of our newsletter, capturing recent highlights from our community, from the annual CzeSEV meeting and international conferences to major grants, student achievements and invitations for upcoming events.
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The CzeSEV annual meeting took place on 11 November at BIOCEV in Vestec, bringing together over 80 participants from academia, research institutes, and industry. The keynote talk, “The Social Media of the Malaria Parasite,” delivered by Prof. Neta Regev-Rudzki, set the tone for a day of sharp discussion and new perspectives in EV research.
The program featured scientific talks, a poster session, technology demos, the CzeSEV general assembly, and plenty of space for networking.
We sincerely thank all our partners, as well as the Department of Experimental Biology, Masaryk University, and the First Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, for their generous support and for enabling the meeting to take place at BIOCEV.
Did you attend the CzeSEV 2025 meeting? We would greatly appreciate your feedback. Please take a moment to complete our short survey:
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/YBL7MJS
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At the 13th International conference Analytical Cytometry of the Czech Society for Analytical Cytometry (CSAC), CzeSEV representatives introduced attendees to the fast-moving field of extracellular vesicle research. The program opened with a keynote by Dr. Maximilian Hartinger from Austrian Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ASEV), who outlined current flow-cytometry strategies for analyzing small particles, providing a solid primer for understanding EV detection.
A dedicated EV session, chaired by Vendula Pospíchalová and Gabriela Ambrožová, followed with four concise talks covering EV biology, isolation, and characterization. Interest in the topic was clear: nine posters in the session focused on EV-related projects, underscoring the growing attention this field is receiving.
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At the 3rd MOVE Symposium in Tartu, CzeSEV was strongly represented in both oral and poster sessions. Irma Schabussova presented on intranasal bacterial EVs in allergy prevention, while Olga Janoušková, Vojtěch Šprincl, and Jan Balvan showcased their work in the poster session.
Jan Balvan also co-chaired the session “Extracellular Vesicle-Based Novel Technologies” and took part in discussions on future MOVE networking.
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Young researchers awarded MOVE special fellowships 2025
The MOVE community has announced the 2025 Special Fellowship awardees, supporting early-career researchers in mobility-focused EV projects across Europe.
Two CzeSEV members were selected:
- Klára Hánělová – joining Dr. Oscar Wiklander’s lab at Karolinska Institutet to work on engineered Fc-binding EVs for targeted delivery in HER2-low breast cancer.
- Šárka Hrachovinová – heading to the University of Freiburg to develop single-EV profiling for predicting platinum response in ovarian cancer.
These fellowships strengthen international collaboration and help propel innovative EV research across the European network. In the coming months, we will share updates from both researchers about their experiences abroad and how their projects are progressing.
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CzeSEV board member Andrea Gálisová awarded ERC funding to develop a drug delivery platform
Andrea Gálisová has been awarded prestigious ERC funding to establish the Programmable In Vivo Delivery of Proteins by Extracellular Vesicles (PROVIDE) platform.
“I am deeply grateful for this unique opportunity. The PROVIDE platform will, I believe, advance the use of extracellular vesicles in diverse medical applications. This grant gives me an exceptional chance to bring closer to reality my vision of combining EVs and MRI for the benefit of human health.”
Read more at the following link Andrea Gálisová awarded ERC funding to develop a drug delivery platform
Foto: Hynek Glos, Charles University
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Extracellular Vesicles and High School Research: Young Scientist Recognized at National Competition
At the National Round of the SOČ competition in Teplice (June 13–15, 2025), Valentýna Straková from Brno placed 4th in Molecular Biology with her project on the role of extracellular vesicles in lung cancer communication. The research was conducted at the Veterinary Research Institute under Mgr. Simona Strapáčová, Ph.D. She also received a special award from the National Cancer Research Institute, presented by Prof. Karel Smetana.
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Interview with awarded student Valentýna Straková
1. What initially drew you, still as a high-school student, to such a technically demanding topic as extracellular vesicles, and what surprised you most when you began working in a real research lab?
To be honest, I didn’t think much about the technical side of the topic at first. I was genuinely fascinated by the potential of extracellular vesicles (EVs), which is why I chose “The role of extracellular vesicles in communication between cells in lung cancer” as my research topic. Our results showed that EVs isolated from conditioned media of human cancer cell lines and tissue EVs isolated from NSCLC patient samples play an important role as mediators of intercellular communication, as the expression of the proteins studied coincided with that of the EVs from which they originated. Also, my mom is a scientist, and I often visited her at work when I was little. While I was waiting for my mom to finish her work in a flowbox, my favourite thing to do was to play with the vortex, so I already had some idea of what lab work looks like.
2. Competitions showcase results, but research is mostly about the process. What was the toughest moment in your project, and how did you manage to overcome it?
I faced many difficult moments during my research, but the toughest was definitely the final week. I had to finish writing the discussion and conclusions while also preparing for several tests at school. Balancing everything at once was really challenging.
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Why is it important to study extracellular vesicles?
If this topic interests you, don’t miss the short article prepared (in Czech) for the Newsletter 2/2025 of the Czech-Slovak Biological Society by Šárka Hrachovinová and Vendula Hlaváčková Pospíchalová. You’ll learn why these small but significant structures deserve our attention and what role they play in intercellular communication.
In the same Newsletter (also in Czech), you can find an engaging article on apoptosis by Jan Balvan and Martina Raudenská.
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Invitations for upcoming events:
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Lecture by Bernd Giebel — Clinical Potential of MSC-EVs and Translational Challenges
We are happy to host one of Europe’s leading experts on therapeutic EVs at Masaryk University. Don’t miss his lecture on 4 December 2025 at 16:00 at University Campus Bohunice.
For details, follow the link.
If you’d like to meet Prof. Giebel in person and discuss your EV research, please send an email ASAP to pospich@sci.muni.cz. Slots for a scientific discussion, an informal lunch with early career researchers, or an informal dinner with PIs are available.
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EJTEMM 2026 in Ljubljana
The European Joint Theory/Experiment Meeting on Membranes (EJTEMM) will take place in Ljubljana, Slovenia, on 28–30 January 2026, bringing together experts and early-career researchers in membrane science. At this event he field of theoretical and experimental research of biological membranes will meet the field of extracellular vesicles and extracellular particles.
Abstract deadline: 20 December 2025
Registration and details: available online via the event links.
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Connect and Engage: Join Us on Social Media
To stay informed about the latest actions and developments in EV field, we encourage you to connect with us on social media platforms.
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Newsletter was prepared by Kristyna Turkova and edited by the CzeSEV board.
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