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day, plus one poster session. There were also two ASEMV Working Group (WG) Meetings, including the
Resource Sharing WG and the newly formed Diet and Nutrition WG. The Meeting was flanked by grants
workshops, and ended with an Awards Ceremony with prizes for Young Investigator talks and poster
presentations.

ASEMV2020 opened with remarks from ASEMV President, Steve Gould (Johns Hopkins University, US)
and ASEMV2020 Organizing Committee Chair, Louise Laurent (University of California San Diego, US),
welcoming attendees and describing the new format for this year.

Next came the first of the grants workshops organized by Fatah Kashanchi (George Washington University,
US). This featured Program Directors from the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) whose Centers and
Institutes provided funding on exosome-related projects.

The grants workshop opened with a presentation from Matthew Young (National Cancer Institute,
(NCI), Cancer Biomarkers Research Group, Division of Cancer Prevention) who focused on the utility of
extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs) in cancer detection via liquid biopsy. He covered “hopes and
hypes” in the area, noting that as of yet, there are no US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved
clinical uses for exosomes/extracellular vesicles, although trials for both biomarker and therapeutic
applications are underway. He emphasized upon the hope that EVPs could be used for plus/minus cancer
detection (cancer vs. non-cancer), across various cancer types and stages. This would require rigor in EVP
separation methods and biomarker identification, with applicability at either standard clinical lab facilities
or in specialized centers. He advertised PAR-20-253, an NCI Funding Opportunity Announcement for
innovative research in vesicle separation and characterization, the goal of the PAR is to promote rigor and
reproducibility in the field.

Matthew was followed by John Satterlee from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), Division of
Neuroscience and Behavior, who presented a broad overview of the NIH budget and funding breakdown,
then narrowing down to NIDA. In the background of an increase in drug overdose deaths in the US in
2019, he referred to several existing exosome/EV funding opportunities and currently funded projects on
neuroscience and neuropathology, associated infectious diseases, and diagnostics where there is overlap with
the Extracellular RNA Communications program (see below). John encouraged everyone with an interest in
NIH funding opportunities to subscribe to the “NIH Guide to Grants and Contracts” (https://grants.nih.gov/
grants/guide/listserv_dev.htm); to contact Program Officers to learn more about particular funding areas;
and to study the “ten commandments for preparing a compelling R01 application” that was presented by
Fatah Kashanchi in a grants workshop session on the final day of the Meeting.

The session closed with a presentation from Christine Happel (National Center for Advancing Translational
Science (NCATS) who is Scientific Program Director of the NIH Common Fund’s Extracellular RNA
Communications Program (ExRNA) that sponsored the Extracellular RNA Communications Consortium
(ERCC). She reported the accomplishments of ERCC’s Phase 1, including the massive accumulations of
biofluid samples and associated exRNA studies and profiles; analyses of technologies and methodologies
for extracellular vesicles (EVs) separation and exRNA identification; and the creation of data analyses
and coordination protocols for information processing. ERCC developed a portal for access to these data,
protocols, and other resources (e.g., the exRNA Atlas), to be found at exRNA.org (https://exrna.org/).
Christine touted a number of landmark papers from the ERCC published in 2019 (Cell journals) that
culminated from those data. ERCC Phase 2 will continue research in these areas, with interests in EV and
exRNA heterogeneity; improvements in isolation, characterization, identification, and data processing of EVs
and exRNAs; and an increased interest in single exosome/EV isolation and cargo determination. The latter,
in particular, relates well to an advertised RADx (Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics) funding announcement,