The Laboratory of Brain Exosomes and Pathology – ExoBrain led by Dr Ioannis Sotiropoulos focuses on the understanding of different cellular mechanisms of AD (e.g. Aβ, Tau, neuroinflammation) and their relationship to brain exosomes; the later are small extracellular vesicles (EVs) secreted by cells and carry different biological material (e.g. proteins, RNA and DNA) from the cell of origin. Based on their multiple cargo, small EVs such as exosomes are suggested to transfer biological information about the health status of the cell/brain exhibiting a great biomarker potential. Emerging evidence suggest two roles of brain exosomes: a) brain exosomes are involved in the spreading of AD brain pathology between cells & brain regions and, b) brain exosomes collected at the peripheral blood may represent great biomarkers of brain pathology. Our laboratory uses novel techniques for the collection, isolation and multiscale analysis of brain exosomes as well as brain-derived exosomes collected in the peripheral blood while we have developed a novel method for isolation of brain tissue exosomes from animals and humans.

Representative: Dr. Ioannis Sotiropoulos (PhD)

Ioannis Sotiropoulos has graduated form the Biology Department, Patras University (Greece) and he performed an internship at the Columbia University, NY (USA). He obtained a PhD in Neurosciences at Heidelberg Univeristy/Max Planck Institute of Psychiatry (Germany) while we also received traning at Physiology Department, Unniveristy College London (UK). During his postdoc studies, he workjed at RIKEN Brain Science Institute, Tokyo (Japan) and MRC Center for Synaptic Plasiticty, Univeristy of Bristol (UK). He is an affiliated Researcher at ICVS Instiute. His research work focuses on understanding the orchestrating role of environmental risk factors (e.g., chronic stress) on the onset of Alzheimer´s disease (AD) with a specific focus on the relationship between AD and depression, a stress-related disorder. Combining cell-, animal- and human-based studies, Dr. Sotiropoulos’ innovative work aims to clarify the diverse factors that regulate the cellular role of Tau as a key molecule of neuroplasticity and neuropathology in brain pathology. His scientific achievements are internationally recognized in the form of prizes & awards e.g., Hirnliga Alzheimer Award 2009, AD/PD Young Faculty 2014 Award, Jerome Lejeune 2017 Award, Janssen Innovation Award 2017, International Alzheimer Association Best Mentor in Nueroscience Award 2021.