Extracellular vesicles – what’s in it for us?

Extracellular vesicles are becoming increasingly relevant in various biological and diagnostic settings – ranging from clinical applications as disease markers to therapeutic avenues. What the field also needs are reliable and reproducible methods of vesicle characterisation concerning their composition and biological role. That’s why in the current issue we are raising the question on what’s in extracellular vesicles for us as researchers? Enhanced rigour in vesicle isolation and purification is a key step to validate any efficiency data in cell culture models or even in vivo. In the present TEV 2021 issue the focus has been put on a better understanding of vesicle characterisation and composition. This emphasis is showcased by the contributions from Moosbach et al. and Gómez-Serrano and coworkers. 
In addition, I have initiated a new format called “Meet the Researcher” – interviews with known scientists from the field of extracellular vesicles who are not only sharing their research experience but also allow a small peephole view into their daily life. 

Last but not least, this issue also contains two overview reports on newly initiated research consortia within the vesicle area. One of them is the exRNA consortium led by the Justus Liebig University Giessen and the other initiative is a Research Training Group on the tumour secretome and its association with extracellular vesicles. We hope that such research initiative encourage other scientists in the field to engage in collaborative extracellular vesicle projects as well. 

We appreciate the authors’ and reviewers’ effort in writing and constructively reviewing the manuscripts. Once again, Tobias Tertel (Essen) was irreplaceable for designing and redrawing all figures and the cover image. As always, gratitude goes to the Trillium Publisher team, without whom it would have been impossible to continue this journal – it feels very good to be part of this team!

I wish everyone an exciting and insightful read!