On Wednesday 23 October 2019, DPAG hosted the annual Oxosome meeting for the fourth consecutive year, which brings together researchers from across Oxford with an interest in cell communication involving exosomes and other extracellular vesicles (EVs). The meeting, organised by Associate Professor Deborah Goberdhan 
(DPAG), Dave Carter (Oxford Brookes), Cláudia Mendes (Wilson and Goberdhan Labs, DPAG) and Genevive Melling (Carter Lab, Oxford Brookes), was held in the Sherrington Large Lecture Theatre with around 120 people participating.
The talks showcased the quality and breadth of local extracellular vesicles-based research, with speakers from a range of departments including DPAG, Paediatrics, Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Radcliffe Department of Medicine, Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences and Biological and Medical Sciences at Oxford Brookes University. The talks spanned topics covering fundamental biophysiological concepts of EV biology to the involvement of EVs in clinical disorders, including myocardial infarction, Parkinson’s disease and ovarian cancer.
Subsequent to a successful meeting, DPAG's Emeritus Professor Denis Noble collaborated with researchers from Professor Matthew Wood’s lab in the Department of Paediatrics, who presented research at Oxosome highlighteing the potential role of different types of EVs in ovarian cancer, to contribute towards a book entitled Exosomes: A Clinical Compendium, published by Elsevier Academic Press.
Prof Noble authored a chapter presenting Charles Darwin’s theories on the inheritance of acquired characteristics and the existence of tiny particles, that he referred to as gemmules, which could induce changes in the soma by delivering their cargo to germline cells, sperm and eggs; a very early theory that closely aligns to current understanding of EVs. Imre Mäger, Scott Bonner and Matthew Wood (Wood Lab, Paediatrics), along with former DPAG DPhil student Eduard Willms, and Prof. Andrew Hill (La Trobe University, Melbourne), authored a chapter about the role of EVs in neurodegenerative disorders.
Following the release of Exosomes: A Clinical Compendium on Friday 15 November 2019 and thanks to the collaboration between Denis Noble and the Wood Lab, Denis Noble, Eduard Willms and Scott Bonner were each invited to talk on the prominent US based podcast known as Future Tech.
The Future Tech Podcast is a science and technology podcast focused on “future technologies poised to transform [human] lives for the better”. Its host, Richard Jacobs, a successful US business and marketing figure, has conducted over 1500 interviews with leading researchers on topics spanning from artificial intelligence to gene editing.
All three episodes of the podcast in which Prof Noble, Willms and Bonner each discuss their own research and perspectives of extracellular vesicle research, are now available to listen to on all major podcast platforms:
Extracellular Vesicle Heterogeneity and Therapeutic Potential—Scott Bonner—Oxford University
Credit to author Scott Bonner for this feature.