We are pleased to announce that Prof. Leo Eberl (University of Zurich, Switzerland) will join Targeting Extracellular Vesicles 2026 as a speaker.

Extracellular vesicles are produced by species across all domains of life, suggesting that vesiculation is a fundamental principle of living matter. Bacterial membrane vesicles (BVs) carry specific cargos and are therefore considered a unique bacterial secretion pathway. Initially described as outer membrane blebs of Gram-negative bacteria, BVs are now also known to arise from endolysin-triggered cell lysis during phage release. MVs perform diverse functions, including waste disposal, surface remodeling, nutrient acquisition, neutralization of phages and antibiotics, DNA transfer, bacterial killing and immune stimulation or modulation. It is shown that antibiotics can induce BV formation through distinct mechanisms: DNA-damaging agents trigger vesicle formation in lysogenic strains, but not in their phage-devoid counterparts, via SOS-induced cell lysis while β-lactam antibiotics increase vesicle formation in a prophage-independent manner by weakening the peptidoglycan layer and promoting membrane blebbing. More recent studies have shown that BVs also transport small bioactive molecules, including antibiotics, antifungal compounds and toxins, and that many BV functions depend on the selective enrichment of these agents. BVs are essential for solubilizing and transporting hydrophobic molecules, protecting them from degradation, and enabling targeted delivery. BV-mediated secretion allows for quantal secretion, whereby cargo molecules are transported over long distances while remaining highly concentrated. Consequently, fusion of a single BV with a target cell is sufficient to deliver a dose exceeding the minimal effective concentration. This mode of secretion fundamentally differs from classical secretion systems, in which diffusible molecules are diluted with increasing distance from the producing cell, creating a defined boundary beyond which concentrations fall below effective levels.