Because of VES4US project and the quantity of investigators of extracellular vesicles in Italy, on November 29, 2018 the Italian Society of Extracellular Vesicles (EVIta) was founded in Turin.
EVIta’s primordial goal is to promote basic, clinical and translational research and the interactive network among Italian researchers, in the field of extracellular vesicles. The scientific interest for extracellular vesicles, small vesicles released by cells and present in biological fluids, arises from their preponderant role as mediators of communication between cell and cell and for their involvement in many diseases.
EVIta aims to represent a point of reference for the exchange of ideas, information and initiatives in this area. The founding members of EVIta, more than fifty from eleven different regions, represent an Italian excellence in the study of extracellular vesicles in the most diverse fields: medicine, biochemistry, physics, veterinary medicine, pharmacology.
In the Board of the EVITa we can find the VES4US coordinators from CNR, that have actively participated since the very early stage of the establishment of EVIta. Antonella Bongiovanni Cnr-Ibim, Palermo; Marcella Chiari Cnr-Icrm, Milan; Gianni Colotti Cnr-Ibpm, Rome; and Gabriella Pocsfalvi Cnr-Ibbr, Napoli are members of the board of directors of the society. The first meeting of supporter members of the 'EVIta Society', on October 5th at the Marconi hall of the CNR in Rome, confirmed the strong interest and passionate participation of the Italian scientific community working on extracellular vesicles.
EVIta is based at the Molecular biotechnology center of the University of Turin, where president Benedetta Bussolati works.