Events

Virtuous or Vicious: Extracellular Vesicles in Skin

Biomedical Engineering
Lecture / Panel
 
For NYU Community
Virtuous or Vicious

Zoom

Speaker:

Piul S. Rabbani, PhD
Assistant Professor
Hansjorg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery
NYU Grossman School of Medicine

Abstract:

Skin wounds and disorders pose significant challenges due to their impact on protective functions and patient quality of life. Despite their accessibility, effective therapies remain limited. Recent research has focused on extracellular vesicles (EVs) derived from adult multipotent stromal cells (MSCs) as a promising cell-free therapeutic approach. EVs carry beneficial factors from MSCs, offering a shift away from traditional cell-based therapies and reducing risks associated with MSC transplantation. These nanoscale to microscale EVs, though derived from non-skin cells, have shown notable efficacy in preclinical models of skin wounds by inducing beneficial responses within the wound microenvironment. However, the thera-peutic potential of EVs is influenced by factors such as the source of MSCs, EV processing methods, and culture conditions. Standardization across these parameters is critical to ensuring consistent therapeutic outcomes. This review systematically examines the procedural variables that impact EV efficacy and explores their cellular and molecular effects on various skin wounds and disorders. Future research must focus on understanding the specificity of EV-induced responses in different wound types and validating the safety and efficacy of these approaches in preclinical xenogenic models.

Dr. Rabbani received her BA in Biology from Occidental College in Los Angeles and her PhD in Biomedical Sciences from NYU. After one year as a Research Scientist in the Department of Pathology at NYU Langone, she became a Postdoctoral Fellow at the NYU Institute of Recon-structive Surgery. Subsequently, she was appointed Assistant Professor and Director of Research at NYU’s Hansjorg Wyss Department of Plastic Surgery. She has published over 50 papers at the intersection of regenerative medicine, tissue engineering, and wound healing, with a focus on translating basic scientific discoveries into clinically relevant therapies​.

 

Rabbani Abstract
Preconditioning parameters improve EV wound healing potential. EV properties can be adjusted by stimulation of their source cells. Physical and chemical methods precondition source cells and thus the cargo of their derived EVs, resulting in phenotypic variations of the vesicles. Cells can be preconditioned by (1) transfection of nucleic acids, (2) physiological stressors, (3) nanoparticles, (4) other EVs, (5) mechanical stressors, and (6) other biologics.