Korea University Researchers Create Hydrogel Platform for High-Throughput Extracellular Vesicle Isolation

A meso–macroporous hydrogel enables rapid, scalable extracellular vesicle isolation from diverse biofluids without preprocessing steps

SEOUL, South Korea, Dec. 4, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have rapidly emerged as one of the most promising frontiers in modern biology. These nano-sized messengers mediate communication between cells, tissues, and organs, influencing processes from immune signaling to cancer progression. Their growing diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic relevance has accelerated research worldwide. Yet one major limitation persists: the absence of efficient, scalable, and equipment-independent EV isolation methods. Existing techniques, including ultracentrifugation and size-exclusion chromatography (SEC), remain labor-intensive, instrumentation-heavy, and unsuitable for processing large-volume biofluids.

To address this gap, a team led by Professor Nakwon Choi from Korea University developed a practical, scalable EV-isolation platform that operates without preprocessing steps or specialized equipment. Their findings, published in Nature Nanotechnology on September 24, 2025, introduce meso–macroporous hydrogels engineered with pores large enough to admit EVs while maintaining structural stability.

As Prof. Choi explains, "We engineered meso–macroporous PEGDA hydrogel particles with pores approximately 400 nm in diameter using a technique called cryo-photocrosslinking. In this process, frozen hydrogel precursor solutions possess ice crystals that act as porogens, creating EV-permeable pores upon crosslinking of polymer chains." EVs are captured through charge-selective interactions in the presence of high-salt (NaCl) and released upon the removal of the salt. This enables direct isolation from blood, plasma, urine, saliva, ascites, milk, and cell culture media—without serial filtration or ultracentrifugation. The system is highly scalable, from microlitres to litre-scale volumes, and preserves EVs in situ via freeze-drying. By adjusting freezing conditions, the team can also enrich specific EV subpopulations.

The results were striking. Hydrogel-based isolation produced up to 1,539-fold higher EV yield from milk compared to ultracentrifugation and shortened processing time by nearly six-fold, all without preprocessing. The isolated EVs retained structural and functional integrity, promoting fibroblast and keratinocyte proliferation and providing protection against oxidative stress. Diagnostic utility was demonstrated through urinary EV microRNA profiling for prostate cancer detection. EVs stored in freeze-dried hydrogels remained stable for up to 60 days without cold-chain requirements, and the hydrogel particles were cost-effective and reusable, enhancing viability for research and industrial use.

The platform offers numerous advantages: high yield and purity, rapid processing, scalability, broad biofluid compatibility, long-term preservation, and customisable enrichment. Therapeutically, milk-derived EVs show promise for wound healing, tissue regeneration, and cosmeceutical applications. Diagnostically, rapid EV isolation from urine, saliva, or blood supports non-invasive biomarker discovery. Industrially, scalability and ambient-temperature stability enable large-scale EV production and distribution, including in resource-limited settings.

Reflecting on the study, Prof. Choi, Prof. Bong, and Dr. Kang note, "Our meso–macroporous hydrogel holds promise for translating EV research from the lab to clinical and industrial settings. It is cost-effective, reusable, and independent of specialized equipment, allowing users to recover and preserve EVs on demand, even across long distances without a cold chain. We envision this technology as a versatile platform to advance EV studies, from fundamental research to applications in diagnostics, prognosis, and therapeutics."

In summary, the meso–macroporous PEGDA hydrogel represents a major advance in EV biotechnology, enabling direct, scalable, and equipment-free EV isolation from diverse biofluids. With high performance and practical versatility, it supports laboratory, clinical, and industrial progress and accelerates the translation of EV science into real-world diagnostic and therapeutic innovations.

Reference

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SOURCE Korea University College of Medicine