International Society for Extracellular Vesicles


The International Society for Extracellular Vesicles is an international scientific organization that focuses on the study of extracellular vesicles, including exosomes, microvesicles, oncosomes, and other membrane-bound particles that are released from cells. Established in 2011, the society is a nonprofit organization. It is governed by an executive committee. The current president is Andrew Hill, the founding president was Jan Lötvall. The society publishes the Journal of Extracellular Vesicles.

Meetings

As part of its mission to promote scientific research and education, the society hosts an annual meeting and educational event as well as numerous workshops on defined EV-related topics. The society also co-sponsors or endorses related events.

Workshops and scientific seminars

ISEV workshops began with a meeting on extracellular RNA, and continue to include one to two meetings per year.

Endorsed or co-sponsored events

The society has directly or indirectly supported EV-related events around the world. These include meetings of the UK, French, and Spanish and Portuguese EV Societies, a course the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, a Keystone Symposia conference, Gordon Research Conferences, a Cold Spring Harbor Asia Meeting, and others.

''Journal of Extracellular Vesicles'' and standardization initiatives

To disseminate research in the field, the society established the peer-reviewed open access Journal of Extracellular Vesicles in 2012. The journal was initially published by Co-Action Publishing, but has been published by Taylor & Francis since 2016. In addition to research and review articles, the journal periodically publishes position papers of the society that are meant to advance standardization efforts.
In 2014, the Executive Board of Directors published a set of minimal information guidelines for publication of EV studies. These requirements, known as "MISEV" or "MISEV2014," mirrored similar initiatives in the fields of microarray and proteomics analysis, among others. In 2017, the society's board announced its intent to update these requirements with community involvement. The "MISEV2018" requirements were published in 2018 by Clotilde Théry and Kenneth Witwer with input from 380 co-authors.

Education

Among the educational initiatives of the society are massive open online courses, launched in 2016. They are available through Coursera and co-sponsored by the University of Gothenburg, Pohang University of Science and Technology, and the University of California, Irvine.