Department of Neuroregeneration

Institute of Experimental Medicine CAS, Prague

EV project leader: Nataliya Romanyuk

Website: https://www.iem.cas.cz/en/department/department-of-neuroregeneration

Email: nataliya.romanyuk@iem.cas.cz

Central nervous system (CNS) injuries, such as spinal cord injury, traumatic brain injury, or stroke, affect a significant proportion of the population and cause long-term functional disability. Historical advances in symptom management have reduced mortality rates; however, there is no effective treatment to counteract the long-term functional deficits caused by these pathologies. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) play significant roles in regulating neuron-glia communication, neural plasticity, and the immune response during development, adulthood, and pathology, based on their payload of diverse biological cargoes. Additionally, EVs have emerged as alternatives to cell-based therapies due to their potential for improved safety and therapeutic efficacy across diverse regenerative applications.

Our group is focused on studying the role of EVs in nervous tissue regeneration. We employ several in vitro and in vivo models of CNS injury. We work on the intensive characterization of EVs of various origins and the evaluation of their therapeutic potential, as well as elucidating the mechanisms of their beneficial impact on neuroregeneration.