Alicia Llorente
Kari Bente Foss Haug
Reidun Øvstebø
President
E-mail: a.l.martinez@ous-research.no
Dr. Alicia Llorente is a Senior scientist leading the project “Extracellular vesicles and prostate cancer” at the Institute for Cancer Research, Oslo University Hospital, and a Professor at Oslo Metropolitan University. Her research focuses on the identification of prostate cancer biomarkers in urinary extracellular vesicles. In particular, she has used different omics approaches for the identification of proteins, lipids and miRNAs in urinary extracellular vesicles. Alicia has also been a coordinator of the Urine Task Force of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles. Finally, Alicia’s group is also investigating the molecular machinery of EV release.
Vice President
E-mail: UXXHAX@ous-hf.no
Dr. Kari Bente Foss Haug is a senior researcher and head of the Blood Cell Research Group at Department of Medical Biochemistry, Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål. She has a background in molecular cell biology- and communication and has been working with implementation of new analysis methods at a broad level in the EV field. Her main research area in recent years has been characterization of EVs in health and disease, with focus on omics analysis of EV cargo from different body fluids in patients with inflammation and coagulation disorders. She was a member of the coordinating group of the Regional Research Network on Extracellular Vesicles (RRNEV) funded by Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Sør-Øst) 2013-2015, focusing on EV-based research in close collaboration with several basal and clinical research groups.
Board Member
E-mail: reidunovst@gmail.com
Dr. Reidun Øvstebø has been Head of The Blood Cell Research Group, Department of Medical Biochemistry, Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, which studies mechanisms regulating coagulation and inflammation. Human monocytes and lymphocytes, whole blood models, cell lines and patient samples (plasma, saliva, tear fluid etc) are used as model systems together with upfront methodology as omics to disclose new biomarkers. The group has high expertise on EVs and was the coordinating group of the Regional Research Network on Extracellular Vesicles (RRNEV) funded by Southern and Eastern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Sør-Øst) 2013-2015, focusing on EV-based research in close collaboration with several basal and clinical research groups.
Marit Inngjerdingen
Taral Lunavat
Beate Vestad
Board Member
E-mail: marit.inngjerdingen@medisin.uio.no
Board Member
E-mail: Taral.Lunavat@uib.no
Taral is currently doing his mobility post-doctoral fellowship at Breakefield Lab in Mass General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston and is also a researcher at Uni of Bergen, Norway. His research focuses on deciphering the role of exosomes in brain tumor microenvironment. His project at Harvard include boosting the effect of IL-12 with co-stimulant in in brain tumor microenvironment by targeting astrocytes using AAV therapy. He also focusses on EVs enriched with the costimulatory factor and understand whether it could enhance the survival for GBM tumor bearing mice. In addition, his work in Norway focusses on identifying genes enriched in exosomes that play role in tumor crosstalk in GBM. To understand this further, he specifically identifies proteins and mRNA in cells and EVs from GBM stem cells using transcriptomics and proteomics technologies that helps us understand the invasion potential of EVs in tumor microenvironment.
Board Member
E-mail: beate.vestad@medisin.uio.no
Beate Vestad is a postdoctoral researcher at the Research Institute of Internal Medicine, Oslo University Hospital, Rikshospitalet. From 2013 to 2016, she was employed as administrator of the South-Eastern Norway Regional Research Network on Extracellular Vesicles (RRNEV), where she was involved in implementation of methods for studies on EVs and investigated the role of EVs as potential biomarkers of disease. During recent years and PhD work, she has also been involved in research related to defining gut microbiota alterations in various inflammatory disorders and infectious diseases. Her current research focuses on both EV-related and non-EV related microbe-host crosstalk in the context of inflammatory disorders, including inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC).