NanoSight NTA helps characterise nanoparticles

Katarzyna Psonka-Antonczyk is a post-doctoral fellow at the Norwegian University of Science & Technology (NTNU)

Psonka-Antonczyk has applied single-molecule techniques, like atomic force microscopy and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy, to visualise individual exosomes and to characterise their membrane repertoire.

Exosomes are intercellular shuttle vehicles of various materials and contain information that can reprogram targeted cells.

They contain membrane proteins, cytosolic proteins and small RNAs (miRNA). These vesicles are transported by bodily fluids (blood) and can likely fuse back with plasma membranes, introducing new proteins and RNA in new cells distant from the cell of origin.

Knowing the concentration of secreted exosomes can facilitate estimation of the secretory abilities of cells and can help in further sample preparation.

When coupled with fluorescent light, the NanoSight Nanoparticle Tracking Analysis system enables the analysis of exosome samples to provide information of various distinct subpopulations of vesicles by labeling with specific antibodies tagged with a fluorescent reporter.