The Center for Translational Research in Oncology (CTO) of the Instituto do Câncer do Estado de São Paulo (ICESP) will offer a theoretical and practical Course on Extracellular Vesicles in 2025.
The course was selected through a call for short-term biotechnology courses supported by the Latin American Center for Biotechnology (CABBIO), a regional technical-scientific integration program under Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology, and Innovation (MCTI), in collaboration with state agencies from Argentina, Uruguay, and Colombia.
The course will last one week and will take place at the CTO, a research center with multiple integrated laboratories that is a reference in oncology research in Brazil and Latin America. Throughout the program, participants will attend theoretical classes and practical training on the various stages of research involving Extracellular Vesicles in the context of tumor development. The content will cover everything from the sources of these vesicles and extraction methods from conditioned media to the analysis of their content from a systems biology perspective. By the end of the activities, students will be equipped to understand how the messages transmitted by these vesicles (e.g., via miRNAs) can influence recipient cells, including tumor cells and cells within the tumor microenvironment.
In addition to Brazilian students, funding will make it possible for students from other South American countries to participate. Students are expected from Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay.
Researchers from CTO-ICESP will conduct theoretical lectures and practical training sessions, including Prof. Dr. Roger Chammas and Dr. Luciana Nogueira de Sousa Andrade, who lead the course, as well as Dr. Alexis Germán Murillo Carrasco, Dr. Andreia Hanada Otake and Dr. Silvina Odete Bustos.
Training sessions will be provided by Dr. Adriana Paes Leme from the National Biosciences Laboratory of the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (LNBio-CNPEM); Dr. Virginia Novaro from the Instituto de Biología y Medicina Experimental, Buenos Aires (IBYME-CONICET); and Prof. Juan Pablo Tosar from the Universidad de la República and the Pasteur Institute of Montevideo.
The course is scheduled for September 2025. Further information will be announced in due course.