Periodic Reporting for period 1 - RAMEN (RAMan spectroscopy for tracking Exosome based delivery of Nutraceuticals)
Período documentado: 2019-06-03 hasta 2021-06-02
From 17 June 2019 to 30 November 2019 , work was carried out towards realizing the objectives set in the first workpackage, Design and characterisation of functionalised nutrient loaded milk exosomes.
Task1.1 of the workpackage 1 was the focus of the work carried out in these 4 months. Low fat and high fat commercial milk were used to extract the exosomes and the preliminary studies showed that low fat milk handling was easier than full fat milk and the exosomes obtained did not block the filters during the centrifugation step.
Dynamic light scattering studies were used as described in the proposal to determine the size of the exosomes and their stability when stored at 4oC was followed over a few days.
Initial studies showed varying size distributions in the sample obtained and prefiltration steps were added to improve the size distribution of exosomes obtained.
Scanning electron microscopy was performed on the samples after dynamic light scattering to verify the presence of exosomes. Presence of protein aggregates was suspected from the scanning electron microscopy images and we were in the process of identifying a means to avoid protein aggregates and extract only exosomes.
This was when the fellow secured a permanent position with an industry in France and decided to move.
1.3 Impact
The fellowship has played a significant role in the fellow securing their current position. From the application process to my short stay, my mentor Prof. Hugh J Byrne had been very supportive and I learnt a lot of about different aspects of project management and proposal writing from him. This fellowship has given me the opportunity to expand my scientific network and would help my current work as well.
The impact would be to reduce side effects from conventional iron supplementation and a faster recovery of blood iron levels to acceptable levels.