Equipment & Capabilities

Short overview of the key instruments available at the EV-iTEC, supporting EV isolation, nano-analytics, quality control and method development.

EV Isolation

Ultracentrifuges

Image © Beckman Coulte

Optima XPN-80 & MAX-XP

Key Specs:

  • Refrigerated high-speed ultracentrifugation
  • Rotors: Type 70 Ti, SW 32 Ti, MLA-80
  • Max g-force: 70,000 – 200,000 × g (depending on rotor)
  • Supports dUC, density gradients (iodixanol, sucrose)

Applications:

  • Benchmark EV isolation workflows, density-resolved analysis.

Chromatography

ÄKTA Start + gravity flow

Key Specs:

  • Columns: Sepharose CL-4B (homemade), Izon qEV, CaptoCore 700
  • UV detection (ÄKTA)
  • Automatic fraction collector
  • Flow rate control (0.5–10 mL/min

Applications:

  • High-purity SEC isolation, matrix comparison, reproducible method development.

Tangential-Flow Filtration

PALL Easy TFF

Key Specs:

  • Membranes: 300 kDa & 500 kDa cutoff
  • Max feed volume: up to 2 L
  • Pressure monitoring
  • Gentle EV concentration + buffer exchang

Applications:

  • Pre-enrichment before SEC/UC/FFE, scalable EV isolation.

Free-flow Electrophoresis

FFE Service

Key Specs:

  • Continuous mode separation
  • Temperature-controlled separation chamber
  • Separation by electrophoretic mobility/charge
  • Compatible with EV-containing buffers (PBS, HEPES)

Applications:

  • Subpopulation enrichment, EV heterogeneity, corona studies.

EV Analysis

NTA

Zetaview PMX110

Key Specs:

  • Laser: 488 nm
  • Zeta potential mode
  • Video-based nanoparticle tracking
  • Size detection: ~30–1000 nm
  • Compatible with Triton-integrity testing

Applications:

  • EV size distribution, particle concentration, zeta potential.

Nano-Flow Cytometry

NanoFCM NanoAnalyzer

Key Specs:

  • Lasers: 488 nm & 638 nm
  • Scatter sensitivity: down to ~40 nm
  • Fluorescence detection: FITC/Alexa488, PE (optional), APC/Alexa647
  • Compatible with antibody-labelled EVs
  • Detection of CD63/CD81/CD29/etc.

Applications:

  • High-sensitivity EV phenotyping, fluorescence-labeled EV marker profiling.

Flow Cytometry

BD FACS Celesta

Key Specs:

  • Lasers: 405 nm, 488 nm, 561 nm
  • Bead-based multiplex assays (MACSPlex, Dynabeads)
  • Not for single EV detection
  • Compensation for multi-color bead panels

Applications:

  • EV immunophenotyping via beads, QC of marker sets, method comparison.

Proteomics Interface

Proteomics

Key Specs:

  • EV-QC before proteomics (particle/protein ratio, integrity check)
  • Direct sample handover to Translational Proteomics for downstream analysis

Applications:

  • EV proteome profiling, biomarker discovery, subpopulation analysis, corona studies, cross-method benchmarking
Images © respective manufacturers:
• Beckman Coulter (Optima XPN-80) • Cytiva (ÄKTA Start, Easy TFF System ) • FFE Service (FFE) • NanoFCM (NanoAnalyzer) • Particle Metrix (Zetaview PMX110) • BD Biosciences (Celesta flow cytometer)