Midlands Extracellular Vesicles Network

Mission: Midlands Extracellular Vesicles Network (MEVN) is a joint partnership across the 7 Midlands Innovation Health institutions which aims to:

1. Develop a vibrant multidisciplinary research community, bringing focus to the diverse Extracellular Vesicle (EV) research activity in the Midlands both academic and industrial.
2. Facilitate inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral research collaborations, to develop the next generation of EV based research programmes.
3. Share best practice and provide a platform for collaborative rather than competitive bids, strengthening submissions to research councils for funding.
4. Train, support and inspire the next generation of outstanding leaders in EV research.

Collaboration: The partnership structure comprises a senior and early career researcher from each institution:

■   Aston University: Professor Andrew Devitt
■   University of Birmingham: Dr Joshua Price
■   Keele University: Dr Oksana Kehoe and Dr Nicholas Wragg
■   University of Leicester: Professor Galina Mukamolova
■   Loughborough University: Dr Owen Davies and Dr Soraya Williams
■   University of Nottingham: Professor Lucy Fairclough (CHAIR) and Dr Hannah Jackson
■   University of Warwick: Professor Dimitris Grammatopoulos and Dr Darius Koester

Support colleagues: Alex Archibald (MI Health), Ellen McGhee (MI) and Matt Vassey (Aston University).

Events: On 21st September 2023, MEVN held an inaugural (half day) virtual conference focussed on ‘Health and Inflammation’. This provided an opportunity for presentations, discussions, and conversations around this exciting and growing area of EV research. To watch recordings from this event click here.

MEVN is looking to run a series of virtual and in-person events. We anticipate these meetings will evolve in content, theme and location as the network grows and would love to engage the community around this as we move forwards. If you are interested in being involved, please get in touch.