VivaZome and La Trobe University to collaborate on EVs for stroke treatment

20 March 2024, Melbourne, Australia: VivaZome Therapeutics Pty Ltd and La Trobe University are pleased to announce that they will be collaborating to explore the therapeutic potential for VivaZome’s extracellular vesicles (EVs) in models of stroke in the laboratory of Professor Chris Sobey (pictured).  This collaborative effort brings together VivaZome’s expertise in EV manufacturing and La Trobe’s stroke research capabilities led by Professor Sobey. The study entitled “Anti-inflammatory exosomes for stroke: a proof-of-concept (PoC) pilot study” is supported by a $300k grant from the La Trobe Proof-of-Concept (PoC) Fund. Click here to read the media release.

VivaZome presents on exosome purification, customisation and manufacturing at ANZSEV

VivaZome Therapeutics is pleased to announce that three posters highlighting the company’s strategies and technologies for exosome purification, customisation and manufacturing of extracellular vesicles (“EVs) are being presented at the 6th annual meeting of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Extracellular Vesicles (“ANZSEV”) this week in the Barossa Valley, South Australia.

Dr David Haylock, CSO of VivaZome, said: “We are delighted to be presenting this work at the ANZSEV meeting as we strive to develop new customised EV-based approaches to treat retinal disease and traumatic brain injury with our esteemed collaborators at Australian National University, The University of Queensland, Cytiva and SeerPharma. These posters highlight the strong progress we are making.”  For the full release, please click here.

To view the poster, “From Laboratory to Manufacturing; Methods and Challenges in Exosome Purification” (Shambrook et al) click here.

For the poster, “Customisation strategies and loading of EVs to treat neurological disease” (Johnston et al), please click here.

For the poster, ”Establishing a robust exosome manufacturing process for translational studies” (Krishna et al), click here.

VivaZome enhances Board and Executive Team

VivaZome is delighted to announce a suite of positive changes to the company’s board and executive team. Xenia Sango has been promoted to CEO and Managing Director, David Haylock has been appointed as Chief Scientific Officer. and Dr Anthony Filippis has joined the Board as Non-Executive Director. See attached release here (The photo shows Xenia and David in attendance at ISEV 2023 earlier this year)

ANU Retinal Disease expert joins VivaZome on Industry Fellowship

VivaZome is delighted that Associate Professor Riccardo Natoli from Australian National University (ANU) will be doing an Industry placement with VivaZome in the second half of this year. This placement is supported by the Bridge and BridgeTech Industry Fellowships Program, which is part of MTPConnect’s $32 million REDI initiative.   Riccardo’s application was selected from a very competitive pool of applicants, based on his experience, project goals, strength of industry partnership and potential impact.

Riccardo is the Head of the Clear Vision Research Lab, at the John Curtin School of Medical Research and ANU Medical School, with his team focused on finding novel diagnostics and treatment options for Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD), using miRNA and extracellular vesicles (EVs). AMD is the most common cause of blindness in Australia.

ANU is a project partner in VivaZome’s current CRC-P project and AMD is one of VivaZome’s key clinical targets. Riccardo’s fellowship at VivaZome will build on his existing industry interactions and experience AND assist VivaZome to accelerate its development of new EV-based therapies for retinal disease.

VivaZome and collaborators at UQ and ANU present new data at ISEV international exosome conference

VivaZome is delighted to announce that two posters with new mice data highlighting the functional potential of extracellular vesicles (“EVs”) will be presented at the annual meeting of the International Society of Extracellular Vesicles (“ISEV”) held on 17-21 May 2023 in Seattle, USA.

The poster, “Local administration of extracellular vesicles from bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells restores homeostatic communication pathways and slows the progression of retinal degeneration” (Wooff et al) is co-authored by scientists from Australian National University (ANU) and VivaZome. The second poster, “Bioengineering exosomes to enhance brain targeting in a mouse traumatic brain injury model” (Chen et al), is co-authored by scientists from The University of Queensland (UQ) and VivaZome.

Dr David Haylock, CEO of VivaZome, said: “We are delighted to be working with world-leading scientists at ANU and UQ as we jointly strive to develop new customised EV-based approaches to treat retinal disease and brain injury”.

See the VivaZome – ANU poster here. See the VivaZome – UQ poster here. Read the full media release here

VivaZome and partners secure $3m CRC-P grant for customised exosomes

VivaZome is delighted to have been awarded an Australian Government Round 13 CRC-P grant of $3.0m in support of the 3-year project “Customised exosomes – the future of regenerative medicine”. Joining VivaZome in the CRC-P are five exceptional Australian project partners – La Trobe University, The University of Queensland, Australian National University, Cytiva and SeerPharma. Read the press release here.

VivaZome to present at ANZSEV Conference

VivaZome’s Head of Regulatory and Clinical, Ms. Xenia Sango, is an invited speaker at the 5th Conference of the Australia and New Zealand Society for Extracellular Vesicles (ANZSEV) to be held in Gold Coast, Queensland on 9-11 November 2022. Xenia’s will present “Regulatory Affairs Relating to EV-based Therapeutics”. In addition, VivaZome’s CEO, Dr. David Haylock, and Ms. Sango will be part of an Expert Panel Discussion on “How to go Commercial”. Further, Dr Haylock and VivaZome Senior Scientist, Dr Smriti Krishna, are co-authors of the poster “Bioengineering exosomes to enhance brain targeting in a mouse traumatic brain injury model” by Dr. Min Chen and colleagues from the University of Queensland.  Read more at: VivaZome Press Release 3 November 2022

VivaZome to collaborate with UQ Traumatic Brain Injury experts to develop exosome-based therapies

VivaZome Therapeutics Pty Ltd has entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The University of Queensland (UQ) focussing on improved therapies for Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) and post-traumatic epileptogenesis (PTE). TBI afflicts close to 69 million people globally. Under the MoU, VivaZome will collaborate with Professor David Reutens – Director of the Centre for Advanced Imaging (CAI) at UQ – and his colleagues to investigate exosomes for the treatment of TBI and PTE.

Click here to read more

VivaZome wins Cytiva ANZ BioChallenge 2022

VivaZome Therapeutics has been awarded the top prize in the 2022 Cytiva BioChallenge for the Australia and NewZealand region. The prize, valued at approximately AUD $200,000, will further assist VivaZome in its quest to develop off-the-shelf regenerative medicines. Part of Cytiva’s BioChallenge global series, the inaugural challenge for the ANZ region received 32 applications from various universities and companies. See more here



VivaZome to collaborate with ANU retinal disease experts to develop exosome-based therapies

VivaZome Therapeutics Pty Ltd is delighted to be collaborating with researchers at the Australian National University (ANU) and other expert groups focussing on improved therapies for age-related macular degeneration (AMD). The project entitled “The use of extracellular vesicles (EVs) for therapeutic RNA delivery as a novel treatment for retinal degenerations” is supported by a grant from ANU under its Research Support Program 2022, and includes researchers from the ANU School of Medicine and Psychology, VivaZome, Canberra Health Services, Sydney University, Save Sight Institute, La Trobe University and Flinders University. See more here