Kendall Jensen, from Neurogenomics Translational Genomics Research Institute will presenting an IBG First Friday talk titled “Use of extracellular RNAs to detect brain injury and disease.”

Abstract: One of the largest obstacles to faster, more cost efficient clinical trials for neurodegenerative diseases, brain and spinal cord injury, are accurate diagnostic tests. Biomarkers that diagnose patients early in their injury or disease course and identify risk for progression of disease or secondary injuries, would more accurately enroll subjects and track their progress, allowing for trials that have better power and reduced patient numbers. There is interest in the utility of extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a source of central nervous system (CNS)-derived biomarkers, molecular readouts of brain function that can be captured in the periphery. RNAs mediate and modulate cellular function, and changes in their expression reflect shifts in patient health. Protected within EVs, RNAs travel outside of the cell and enter peripheral circulation (through unknown mechanisms), providing us with new ways to measure CNS changes in simple, accessible biofluids. Extracellular RNAs have been found in every biofluid, and the noninvasive nature of assaying biofluids allows for frequent sampling, with the potential to monitor pathophysiological mechanisms of disease and therapeutic efficacy. 

Kendall Jensen, from Neurogenomics Translational Genomics Research Institute will presenting an IBG First Friday talk titled “Use of extracellular RNAs to detect brain injury and disease.”

Abstract: One of the largest obstacles to faster, more cost efficient clinical trials for neurodegenerative diseases, brain and spinal cord injury, are accurate diagnostic tests. Biomarkers that diagnose patients early in their injury or disease course and identify risk for progression of disease or secondary injuries, would more accurately enroll subjects and track their progress, allowing for trials that have better power and reduced patient numbers. There is interest in the utility of extracellular vesicles (EVs) as a source of central nervous system (CNS)-derived biomarkers, molecular readouts of brain function that can be captured in the periphery. RNAs mediate and modulate cellular function, and changes in their expression reflect shifts in patient health. Protected within EVs, RNAs travel outside of the cell and enter peripheral circulation (through unknown mechanisms), providing us with new ways to measure CNS changes in simple, accessible biofluids. Extracellular RNAs have been found in every biofluid, and the noninvasive nature of assaying biofluids allows for frequent sampling, with the potential to monitor pathophysiological mechanisms of disease and therapeutic efficacy.