Cellular and Molecular characterization of Extracellular-Vesicle (EV) and Extracellular-Mitochondria (EM) delivery – EVEM

Extracellular vesicles (EVs) and Extracellular Mitochondria (EMs) are two emerging types of intercellular communication vectors that are poorly- or uncharacterized, respectively. This is especially true when considering the cellular and molecular aspects enabling their uptake by recipient cells.
Our team has contributed to advancing our knowledge of EV uptake at the cellular level, and is now tackling the molecular aspect, with the aim of identifying the minimal machinery controlling this process.
As far as MEs are concerned, it's still a "black box". What is the nature of the transport intermediate? How is it captures and internalized by recipient cells? Can it integrate into the cytoplasm of these cells, and if so, what machinery is used?
This proposal aims at answering these questions.