(UPM, Helsinki, 17 February 2020 at 11:00 EET)
UPM has joined a newly formed Finnish research consortium that plans to use extracellular vesicles to develop novel nano-biotechnological solutions for the early diagnostics and treatment of severe progressive diseases. The Extracellular Vesicles Ecosystem for Theranostic Platforms (EVE) project brings UPM together with many of Finland’s leading research organisations, the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, Orion Pharma and a number of SMEs, and aims to establish whether extracellular vesicles can be used in the treatment and diagnostics of cancers and degenerative diseases of the central nervous system.
The three year project, which is being funded by Business Finland and a total of 13 consortium partners, is being led by the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service’s R&D Manager, Saara Laitinen: “We are now going to find out whether extracellular vesicles produced by blood cells have special characteristics that could be used therapeutically in severe diseases. If extracellular vesicles served as vehicles of drug delivery, we would be able to make even more versatile use of donated blood in the treatment of patients,” said Saara.
One of the key objectives of the EVE project is to develop the technical, production and quality control capabilities required by researchers to develop medicinal products from blood cells. “We are very excited to be part of this ambitious project to advance extracellular vesicle technologies,” said Dr Jane Spencer-Fry, Director, UPM Biomedicals. “Our natural, biocompatible hydrogels are free from animal-derived components, making them ideally suited to this type of biomedical research.”
For more information on EVE, please contact:
Saara Laitinen, R&D Manager, Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, tel. +358 29 300 1695 saara.laitinen(at)veripalvelu.fi
For further information on UPM, please contact:
Jane Spencer-Fry, Director, UPM Biomedicals, tel. +44 7881 557511
Kari Luukko, Director, Quality management and regulatory affairs, UPM Biomedicals, tel. +358 400 259 866
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