Thursday 1 October 2026
08:00–09:00 Registration
09:00 - 09:30 - Welcome and Guest of Honour's Remark
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09:00–09:05
Valeria Harabagiu
Director of "Petru Poni" Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry
Welcome message
09:05–09:15
H.E. Mrs. Nineta Bărbulescu
Ambassador of Romania to Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam
Guest of Honour’s Remark - Science Diplomacy
09:15–09:30
Radu Ionescu
Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Horizon Europe context
09:30 - 10:30 - OPENING FRONTIERS IN EV RESEARCH
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09:30 • IL1
Lee Wai Leng
Monash University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Next-generation extracellular vesicle diagnostics: harnessing advanced biomaterials, artificial intelligence, and global standards
10:00 • IL2
Mariana Pinteală
“Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Iași, Romania
Extracellular vesicles as emerging therapeutic and drug-delivery platforms
10:30–11:00 Coffee break and poster session
11:00 - 12:30 - DISEASE MECHANISMS AND BIOMARKER DISCOVERY
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11:00 • IL3
Carmenza Spadafora
Instituto de Investigaciones Científicas y Servicios de Alta Tecnología de Panamá (INDICASAT-AIP)
Extracellular vesicles in infectious diseases: lessons of intercommunication from the malaria parasite
11:30 • IL4
Laura Patras
Babes-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Extracellular vesicles in cancer and beyond: from intercellular communication to therapeutic innovation
12:00 • OC01
Alina Fudulu
“Ștefan S. Nicolau” Institute of Virology, Bucharest, Romania
Isolation and source-specific characterization of extracellular vesicles from cervical cancer cell lines and urine samples for non-invasive biomarker discovery
12:15 • OC02
Stefan Mihai Dragan
“Babeș-Bolyai” University, Cluj-Napoca, Romania
Development and characterization of curcumin-loaded extracellular vesicles from activated dendritic cells as an adjuvant to anti-PD-L1 immunotherapy in a three-dimensional melanoma model
12:30–14:00 Lunch and networking
14:00 - 15:30 - EV THERAPEUTICS AND REGENERATIVE MEDICINE
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14:00 • IL5
Luminita Labusca
Emergency County Hospital “Saint Spiridon”, Iași, Romania
Extracellular vesicles in musculoskeletal disease: cell-free regenerative tools between biological promise and translational reality
14:30 • OC03
Leonard Atanase
Apollonia University of Iași, Romania
Functionalized liposomal nanovesicles for targeted drug delivery
14:45 • OC04
Razvan Ghiarasim
“Petru Poni” Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Iași, Romania
Microfluidic-assisted assembly of surface-functionalized liposomal nanocarriers for drug delivery applications
15:00 • OC05
Miruna Nemecz
“Nicolae Simionescu” Institute of Cellular Biology and Pathology, Bucharest, Romania
Microvesicle-derived and circulating microRNA signatures in diabetic dyslipidemia: biomarker potential of miR-218, miR-132, miR-143, miR-21, miR-122, and miR-155
15:15 • OC06
Andreea Lazar
University of Bucharest, Bucharest, Romania
Exploring the role of exosome-derived microRNAs in the development and progression of cutaneous malignant melanoma with implications for diagnosis and treatment
15:30–16:00 Coffee break and poster session
16:00 - 17:30 - PLANT, MICROBIOME AND CROSS-SPECIES EVs
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16:00 • IL6
Laura Dinu
University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, Bucharest, Romania
Plant-derived extracellular vesicles as emerging modulators of the gut microbiome
16:30 • RoSEV
Irina Matei
Weill Cornell Medicine, USA
Romanian Society for Extracellular Vesicles - aims and opportunities
16:45 • OC07
Paula Pasca
Iași University of Life Sciences, Iași, Romania
Extracellular vesicles as mediators of the gut–kidney axis in cats with chronic kidney disease: emerging roles and therapeutic potential
17:00 • OC08
Madalina Lixandru
Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Extracellular vesicles at the feed–gut–AMR axis: priming poultry resilience through immunomodulatory nutrition
17:15 • OC09
James Parry
Unchained Labs, USA
The next generation of exosome characterization: meet Leprechaun
19:30 Conference dinner
Friday 2 October 2026
09:00 - 10:30 - VETERINARY EVs AND MOLECULAR DIAGNOSTICS
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09:00 • IL7
Suranga Kodithuwakku
Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Extracellular vesicles in veterinary molecular diagnostics
09:30 • OC10
Monika Nomm
Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Integrating seminal plasma extracellular vesicles to improve male reproductive outcomes
09:45 • OC11
Radu Ionescu
Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Sperm quality assessment by analysing the volatile patterns released by extracellular vesicles isolated from bovine seminal plasma
10:00 • OC12
Nyuk Ling Ma
Universiti Malaysia Terengganu, Malaysia
Environmental drivers of microbiota–host communication
10:15 • OC13
Dulmini Sapugahawatte
Estonian University of Life Sciences, Tartu, Estonia
Multi-pathogen bacterial extracellular vesicles as novel biomarkers for early, AI-assisted detection of subclinical bovine mastitis
10:30 - 11:00 Coffee break
11:00 - 13:00 - EV CHARACTERIZATION, VOLATOLOMICS AND SENSING
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11:00 • IL8
Oxana Klementieva
Lund University
Label-free infrared microspectroscopy of extracellular vesicles and pathological protein assemblies
11:30 • IL9
Sim Siong Fong
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak, Malaysia
Analysis of chromatographic and spectral signals of extracellular vesicles
12:00 • OC14
Rosamaria Capuano
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
Volatolomic analysis of extracellular vesicles extracted from cultured cells
12:15 • OC15
Matilde Messina
University of Rome Tor Vergata, Rome, Italy
A multimodal sensor approach to prostate cancer detection through urinary extracellular vesicles
12:30 • OC16
Abhigyan Sengupta
Waters, USA
FFF-MALS-DLS as a modern orthogonal platform for extracellular vesicle subpopulation discovery and diagnostic characterization
12:45
Closing remarks
 
13:00 - 14:00 Lunch
14:00 - 17:00 - VOLATEVS Project Meeting — project partners and invited participants

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