Mission: Midlands Extracellular Vesicles Network (MEVN) is a joint partnership across the 7 Midlands Innovation Health institutions which aims to:
- Develop a vibrant multidisciplinary research community, bringing focus to the diverse Extracellular Vesicle (EV) research activity in the Midlands both academic and industrial.
- Facilitate inter-disciplinary and inter-sectoral research collaborations, to develop the next generation of EV based research programmes.
- Share best practice and provide a platform for collaborative rather than competitive bids, strengthening submissions to research councils for funding.
- 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.
Midlands Strengths and Capabilities Catalogue | |
Biology | |
Biogenesis and secretion | Nottingham |
Cell death | Aston |
Communication and signalling (intercellular and extracellular) | Aston, Nottingham |
Complex biofluids | Birmingham |
Endothelial cells | Aston |
Epithelial cells | Nottingham |
Genome stability | Aston |
Immune-modulation | Aston |
Immune cells | Nottingham |
Lipidomics | Aston |
Membranes – biophysics and models | Aston |
Metabolomics | Aston |
Molecular biology | Nottingham |
Platelet-derived microvesicles | Aston |
Proteomics | Aston, Birmingham, Nottingham |
Redox biology | Aston |
RNA | Birmingham, Nottingham |
Stem cells | Aston, Keele, Nottingham |
Synthetic and semi-synthetic EVs | Aston |
T cells | Keele |
Trypanosomes genetics | Warwick |
Applications | |
Ageing | Aston |
Bioinformatics | Birmingham |
Biomarkers | Aston |
Cardiovascular disease | Aston |
Cancer and cancer therapies | Aston, Birmingham, Nottingham |
Dermatology | Loughborough |
Disease pathophysiology, prognosis, and outcomes | Aston, Birmingham |
Drug discovery | Aston |
DNA damage responses | Aston |
Exercise and metabolism | Birmingham |
Hypoxia/normoxia effects | Keele |
Inflammation, allergy and allergic sensitisation | Aston, Keele, Nottingham, Warwick |
Lung disease, respiratory infections, COPD, cystic fibrosis and IPF | Keele, Nottingham |
Maternity | Warwick |
Musculoskeletal | Birmingham, Keele, Loughborough |
Nanotechnology | Aston |
Neurology | Aston, Nottingham |
Regenerative Medicine | Aston, Keele |
Therapeutics | Loughborough |
Wound healing | Aston, Keele |
Virology | Keele |
Methods | |
Animal models | Aston, Keele, Nottingham |
Assays | Aston, Birmingham, Loughborough, Nottingham |
Biophysical methods | Aston |
Cell cycle analysis | Aston |
Cell growth and cultures | Aston, Keele, Nottingham, Warwick |
Centrifugation | Birmingham, Keele, Nottingham, Loughborough |
Confocal microscopy | Aston |
Cryo-TEM | Keele |
DNA repair foci analysis | Aston |
ELISAs | Keele |
Extraction | Birmingham, Keele |
Flow cytometry | Aston, Keele, Nottingham |
Freeze-drying | Keele |
Immunopurification | Loughborough |
Live cell imaging | Aston |
Lumi-aggregometry | Aston |
Manufacturing and storage | Keele |
Mass Spectrometry | Aston, Birmingham, Keele, Nottingham |
Microscopy | Aston, Nottingham, Warwick |
Molecular cloning | Nottingham |
Nano Flow Cytometry | Aston, Keele |
Nanoparticle tracking analysis | Birmingham, Nottingham |
Next-generation sequencing | Keele, Nottingham |
Pathway in vitro reconstitutions | Aston |
Precipitation | Loughborough |
Pulse-field gel electrophoresis | Aston |
Polymerase chain reaction | Birmingham, Nottingham |
RNA probes | Nottingham |
Size exclusion chromatography | Aston, Birmingham, Keele, Loughborough, Nottingham |
Tangential flow filtration | Aston, Loughborough |
Tunable resistive pulse-sensing | Aston |
Ultrafiltration | Loughborough |
Western blot | Aston, Birmingham, Keele, Loughborough, Nottingham, Warwick |
X-ray irradiation | Aston |
Equipment | |
3000 Dionex RS online coupled to 5500 Sciex QTrap | Aston |
5600 Triple Tof | Aston |
ABSciex 5500 | Aston |
Agilent Biotek Gen 5 | Aston |
Baker Ruskinn InvivO2 Physiological Cell Culture Workstation | Keele |
BD Accuri C6 Plus | Aston |
BD Biosciences FACS Canto II cytometer | Keele |
Beckman-Coulter Cytoflex | Birmingham, Keele |
Beckman-Coulter Cytoflex S | Aston |
Beckman Coulter L8-M Ultracentrifuge | Keele |
Beckman Coulter Optima TLX Ultracentrifuge | Birmingham |
Beckman Coulter Optima XPN 80 – IVD Ultracentrifuge | Keele |
Bio-Rad pulse field gel electrophoresis system | Aston |
Christ 1-2 LD plus | Keele |
Chronolog Model 700 | Aston |
FUJJIFILM Wako MagCapture Exosome Isolation Kit PS Ver.2 | Warwick |
Haematology analyser | Aston |
Hypoxycool unit | Keele |
Izon automated fraction collectors | Aston, Birmingham |
Izon Exoid | Aston, Birmingham |
Litesizer 500 for DLS | Warwick |
Leica confocal microscopy | Keele |
Malvern LM10, NS300, NS Pro | Birmingham |
Miltenyi MACSPlex exosome kit | Keele |
Miltenyi Biotec EV Isolation Kit Pan, human | Warwick |
Multi-omics on Ascend Tribrid MS | Aston |
NanoFCM Nanoanalyse | Aston |
Nanolive Explorer tomographic microscope | Aston |
Nikon fluorescent microscope | Aston |
Protein purification chromatography systems | Aston |
Thermo Scientific™ Q Exactive™ HF-X | Birmingham |
QIAGEN exoEasy Maxi Kit | Warwick |
Quantum™ Cell Expansion System | Keele |
Unchained Lab Leprechaun/ExoView R100 | Birmingham |
Waters M class online coupled to 5600 Sciex TropleTof | Aston |