The EVEREST project is a pioneering consortium in Extracellular Vesicle (EVs) research, bringing together 22 institutions from 11 countries, including 3 UK partners. This interdisciplinary consortium is distinguished by an ambitious plan for over 285 months of staff exchanges, engaging at least 81 fellows. Research-Innovation programme is structured into four pivotal work packages: 1. Combining Expertise and Resources for Advancing Standardised Characterisation and Isolation of EVs: Focused on harmonizing methods for EV isolation across diverse tissues and samples, enhancing the consistency and reliability of EV research. 2. Jointly Investigating EVs in Health or Disease, and Enhancing Translational Biomarker Discovery: Concentrated on exploring the roles of EVs in various health conditions and diseases, with a particular emphasis on identifying and validating new biomarkers for diagnostic and prognostic applications. 3. Uniting Capacities, Advancing EV-Based Therapeutics or Drug Delivery: Dedicated to developing innovative EV-based treatments and drug delivery mechanisms, targeting key health challenges like cancer and cardiovascular diseases. 4. Catalysing commercial development of EV-based technologies: Aiming to bridge the gap between research and practical application, this work package focuses on preparing EV-based solutions for large-scale production and market introduction. At its core, EVEREST is committed to significantly enhancing the capabilities of participating institutions and fostering career advancement for involved fellows. By positioning EVs as critical tools for biomarker discovery and therapeutic applications, the project aims to make substantial contributions to personalized medicine and improved health outcomes, ultimately translating research breakthroughs into clinical practice.

AcouSome is a consortium stemming from the ongoing EIC-FET Open BioWings project, and consists of four of the BioWings project partners (AcouSort AB, DTU, Lund University and Day One Srl). AcouSome has the ambition to build on the disruptive technology of thin film actuated acoustofluidics developed in BioWings. The results obtained in BioWings will be combined with a polymer acoustofluidics technology developed in the ongoing Eurostars AcouPlast project to fabricate a polymer-based microfluidic chip for separating and enriching exosomes from blood for use in the next generation of point-of-care diagnostics. Exosomes are nano-sized extracellular vesicles that are released by a significant number of different cell types. They are considered an important biomarker, with high diagnostic potential in a wide range of diseases, including different kinds of cancer (glioblastoma, melanoma, prostate cancer and many others), hepatitis, kidney, cardiovascular and liver diseases. Therefore, there is an increasing interest in exosomes as a powerful diagnostic tool. Having the opportunity to isolate and analyze exosomes from a routine blood test is crucial for early detection of a wide range of diseases. In the AcouSome chip exosomes will be separated and enriched from blood by combining two steps already developed by Lund University and AcouSort. First plasma will be separated from blood by flowing the blood through a microfluidic channel, pushing the cells towards the centerline of the channel using ultrasoundand and subsequently splitting the cell and plasma flows. Exosomes will then be trapped and enriched from the plasma flow using a localized acoustic field. The acoustofluidic chip will be driven using thin-film actuators as invented together with DTU in the BioWings project. The exosome separation cartridge is intended for sample preparation in research labs and future diagnostic point-of-care instruments.

AcouSort has developed a technological platform based on acoustic forces to separate, enrich and wash cells and other particles. This technique can perform almost any operation that is normally done by centrifugation in the biology or clinical lab. With an automated flow we can handle small samples and low cell concentrations. We are currently selling two R&D benchtop devices based on this technology, named AcouTrap and AcouWash. In our pipeline is AcouPlasma the first example of the company’s long-term strategy to provide components and modules for life science analytical/diagnostic devices. The AcouPlasma solution offers high quality separation of blood plasma from cells in whole blood in a chip, eliminating the need of time consuming and laborious centrifugation. Through a unique design it facilitates cost-effective automation and in line integration with the sample workflow required to take plasma-based laboratory tests to point-of-care. Hence, it has the potential to increase the patient safety, healthcare decision making efficacy and hospitals/laboratories efficiency, finances and reputation. The AcouPlasma module will be integrated into cartridges for Lab-on-Chip test devices to be sold by major life science companies in the in vitro diagnostic market. We have conducted technical feasibility studies with main players in the industry proving the functionality of the separation module for plasma analysis. With the current project we aim to accelerate the maturation of our disruptive solution for introduction into the global blood processing devices and consumables market. With the successful implementation of the Innovation Project we will be in a strong position to exploit a very significant market.

Demographic trends, such as the rapid growth and ageing of the world population, are putting pressure on global healthcare systems, increasing the demand for smart, effective and affordable biomedical systems. Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) are key components of such biomedical systems, enabling miniaturised devices with diagnostic, prognostic and therapeutic functionalities. Although these systems are poised to revolutionize medical diagnostics and treatment approaches, the slow progress in the development of biocompatible actuator materials is still hindering this industry, preventing a host of new biomedical devices to enter the mainstream market. BioWings proposes to solve this deadlock through the implementation of a completely new class of smart actuating materials to be integrated in biocompatible MEMS. This family of materials is based on highly defective cerium oxides, which recently displayed radically different properties compared to existing ones: 1. They are non-toxic and environmentally friendly, unlike the current lead-based actuators; 2. They show exceptionally high and still uncapped electrostrictive response under moderate electric fields, enabling low power consumption devices; 3. They are fully compatible with silicon-based technologies and many other substrates, including metals and polymers. To fully explore the potential of these materials, foundational knowledge must still be generated on both the basic physical mechanisms and the manufacturing process. To reach this, BioWings focuses on: 1. Understanding, predicting, and controlling the mechanism underlying the unparalleled electrostrictive behaviour of highly defective oxides, by unveiling the effects of the microstructure, as well as the type and concentration of dopants; 2. Identifying a methodology for controlling the electromechanical properties of such materials, using facile manufacturing processes on bio-compatible substrates and electrodes, exploring the scale limit of the device/materials, thus opening up a new path that solves important manufacturing issues in advanced electronics industry; 3. Proving the concept by integrating ceria-based electrostrictors into Bio-MEMS with diverse architectures and acoustofluidic medical blood samples preparation chips. Such results will be pursued by a multidisciplinary group of academic, industrial and medical partners, who will lay the foundations for a new paradigm in a new bio-compatible and environmentally friendly actuator smart materials design and implementation, which will have considerable impact on the scientific, medical and industrial community.