Last week, Exokeryx had the pleasure and the privilege to exhibit at the annual Association for Diagnostic and Laboratory Medicine (ADLM, formerly AACC) conference in Chicago, IL. This year’s theme, “Bring the Wonder,” was apt because, if you’ve never attended an ADLM conference, the sheer size and number of new things to see and learn is quite wonderous! The conference boasts over 19,000 attendees. This year, programs and posters covered topics from practical lab skills to biomarker discovery, innovations in diagnostic technology, federal regulation of laboratory developed tests (LDTs), and much more. The exhibit hall featured 762 exhibitors showcasing all things diagnostic medicine, including instrumentation, novel assays, distributors, laboratory services, and device design and manufacturing. There was a lot to take in, but if it became overwhelming, you could always head over to LabPawpalooza for some oxytocin-inducing puppy playtime.
One thing many attendees may have learned about for the first time at the conference is the existence of extracellular vesicles and their application in diagnostic medicine. Almost every year since at least 2011, the ADLM/AACC conference program has included talks and/or posters discussing extracellular vesicles. Yet, that number remains small – only three posters this year discussed EVs and Exokeryx was the only EV-related exhibitor. At the Exokeryx booth, we enjoyed educating a number of attendees about the role of EVs in intercellular communication and their rich potential for novel and specific biomarker discovery for early disease detection.
Perhaps the reason EVs remain such a niche topic at a clinical diagnostics conference like ADLM is that the tools needed for clinical translation simply don’t exist. As one maker of an EV-based lab developed test told us, the inability of available EV isolation techniques to reliably produce high-quality input samples (e.g. pure EVs) detracts from the diagnostic capability of their assays. Better tools are needed to bring the promise of EVs to clinical diagnostics.
But the power of EVs for clinical diagnosis won’t be constrained forever. While many of our conversations were about educating attendees about EVs, a few inspiring conversations gave us a glimpse into the future of EV-based diagnostic medicine. The hospital system lab director who’s looking to add EVs to their translational research department. The large lab services director preparing for a future in which EV-based diagnostics provide a competitive advantage over other lab services providers. The future is coming. And Exokeryx is proud to develop the tools that will make that future possible.