First Symposium of “Grupo Español de Investigación en Vesículas Extracelulares (GEIVEX)”, Segovia, 8–9 November 2012

O n the 8th and 9th of November, 71 scientists working in the field of extracellular vesicles from different laboratories in Spain met together in Segovia to present and discuss their research advances in this transformative and catalytic new field in translational biomedicine. The symposium was started with opening and welcoming words from Marı́a Yáñez-Mó of Hospital Santa Cristina, Instituto de Investigación Sanitaria Princesa, Madrid, the main ‘‘driving force’’ behind this event. Afterwards, Hernando A. del Portillo, ICREA Research Professor at the Barcelona Centre for International Health Research CRESIB, presented brief remarks on extracellular vesicles, the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) and the history of the ‘‘Grupo Español de Investigación en Vesı́culas Extracelulares’’ (GEIVEX). Particular attention was called upon the fact that some years ago, research in this area was largely neglected. Yet, with the discovery that extracellular vesicles can present antigens, transport miRNA and mRNA and act as inter-cellular communicators and as a result of their innovative and potential use in diagnostics and cancer therapies, research in this field has recently exploded. In fact, the number of publications on extracellular vesicles, as shown by the PubMed statistics under the query ‘‘extracellular vesicles’’, has dramatically increased in recent years. Research in this field received a major input with the creation of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ISEV) whose consolidation and constitution was amended at the First Annual Congress of ISEV, held in Gothenburg, Sweden, in April of 2012. It was during this international Congress that the participating Spanish groups decided to launch a kick-off meeting in Barcelona to discuss the different possibilities for creating a task force on Extracellular Vesicles. This meeting was followed by two other meetings in Bilbao and Madrid, whose key actions were the constitution of the GEIVEX, the proposal of launching a theoretical/practical course on extracellular vesicles, and to host the first inclusive scientific symposium with other Spanish groups working in this field. The symposium was hosted in Segovia (Spain), a city whose architecture, history and aqueduct (declared World Heritage by UNESCO) offered a unique environment for fostering discussions and synergisms. Organized as plenary lectures in six different sessions and one sponsor’s technical session, the meeting hosted 71 participants from 21 laboratories from Spain, from different scientific backgrounds and interests (Figure 1). Below is a summary of the talks presented and whose outstanding scientific level, as illustrated in this summary, exceeded all expectations guaranteeing the future expansion of GEIVEX and the consolidation of new projects and collaborations among Spanish groups working in this new translational field.