In alignment with the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science and UNESCO’s Remote Access to Lab Equipment (UNESRALE) Initiative, the Université Paris Cité (UPCité) and NABI/IVETh in France, in collaboration with UNESCO, are launching a remote capacity-building training on Extracellular Vesicle Production, Purification and Characterization. Each year, the NABI Laboratory and its expertise facility IVETh host a practical training with students from the Université Paris Cité (Biomedical engineering master). In collaboration with UNESCO, NABI/IVETh and UPCité are pleased to offer this year African and Ukrainian students and young researchers the opportunity to fully participate in this comprehensive training remotely. The initiative aims to support their academic and professional growth while also laying the foundation for future international partnerships in biomedical research. This effort could serve as a stepping stone toward long-term collaborations and stronger ties between Université Paris Cité, African and Ukrainian universities.
The training will focus on Bioproduction and characterization of cell-free nanobiotherapies. Since extracellular vesicles (EV) derived from cells have gained significant attention due to their pivotal role in intercellular communication, tissue regeneration, and potential therapeutic applications. The comprehensive characterization of EVs is critical to understanding their biological function, therapeutic efficacy, and safety. Therefore, the practical training will focus on the production of EVs from a cancerous cell line, their purification and their characterization. After, their uptake on a receptor cell line using a high content screening platform will be studied. Scientific contents of the training include: 1) cell culture 2) cell counting, optical and confocal microscopy 3) (ultra)centrifugation 4) EV production 5) characterization of EVs by nanoflow cytometry 6) cell staining with fluorescent dyes and 7) analysis of EV uptake by recipient cells.
Training Organization:
- Remote participation: 2 to 3 participants from African and Ukrainian institutions will join the training remotely, with opportunities to interact with the instructor and fellow students to ask questions, exchange insights, and engage in discussions. Remote participants will follow virtually on-site participants (3 to 4 students) from Université Paris Cité who will attend the practical sessions in person and carry out the laboratory work.
- Preparatory materials: All participants will receive relevant documents in advance, including experimental protocols and related scientific publications.
- All trainees will also be required to do a presentation at the end of the training.
The program is open to young African and Ukrainian PhD candidates, postdoctoral fellows, and early-career researchers (PhD) up to 35 years old working in the fields of biophysics, biotechnology, biochemistry, bioengineering, and related disciplines. Eligible applicants must demonstrate strong proficiency in English and have a solid foundation in the basic sciences (physics, chemistry, and biology). Participants are expected to commit fully to all sessions of the course and have access to a reliable internet connection. Selected trainees are required to carefully review preparatory materials provided prior to the training.
Training dates: To be determined.
Deadline for submitting applications: 31.10.2025
For inquiries, please contact lab-remote.access@unesco.org and iveth@u-paris-sciences.fr
I grant UNESCO the worldwide non-exclusive rights to reproduce, translate, adapt, publish, perform, broadcast, and communicate to the public, in any language and in printed and electronic format, the whole or any part of the responses provided and to authorize other publishers or co-publishers to exercise any or all of these rights. I also grant UNESCO the worldwide irrevocable rights to deposit the whole or any part of the surveys/interviews/online contributions responses in its multilingual Open Access Repository in electronic form. This entails the right of access to copy, usage, distribution, adaptation, for lawful purposes, with in specified constraints. UNESCO uses Creative Commons CC BY SA 3.0 IGO license in line with its Open Access Policy.
Privacy Notice
