ExoCarta update published in J Molecular Biology
ExoCarta: A web-based compendium of exosomal cargo!!!

Vesiclepedia published in PLOS Biology
Vesiclepedia: A compendium for extracellular vesicles with continuous community annotation published in PLOS Biology!!!

UniProt accession identifiers provided along with exosome data!!
Even though ExoCarta obtain gene specific information for all the proteins, sequence specific data obtained by some techniques cannot be ignored. For this reason, we have also incorporated sequence specific data (e.g., UniProt ID for the protein identified - P06238.2).

Vesiclepedia: A compendium for extracellular vesicles with continuous community annotation launched!!!
Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are membraneous vesicles released by a variety of cells into the extracellular microenvironment. Based on the mode of biogenesis, EVs can be classified into three broad classes (i), ectosomes or shedding microvesicles (ii), exosomes and (iii), apoptotic bodies. Recent studies have ignited significant interest on EVs by elucidating their role in intercellular communication, pathogenesis, drug, vaccine and gene-vector delivery and as possible reservoirs of biomarkers. With such immense interest, the amount of data generated has increased exponentially. Here, we describe Vesiclepedia, a manually curated compendium of molecular data (lipid, RNA and protein) identified in different classes of EVs. Currently, Vesiclepedia comprises 35,264 protein, 18,718 mRNA, 1,772 miRNA and 342 lipid entries encompassed from 341 independent studies that were published over the past several years. Even though databases are indispensable resources for the scientific community, recent studies have shown that more than 50% of the databases are not updated for a long time. In addition, more than 20% of the database links are not active after its initial publication. To prevent such database decay and keep them updated, for the first time, we have initiated a ‘continuous community annotation project with the active involvement of the EV researchers’ with long standing (> 10 years) and newly found reputation in the field. The principal investigators working on EVs have vowed to contribute data generated by their group in a regular and continuous fashion making this effort significantly unique. By undertaking such initiatives, we foresee the EV research community as trendsetters in data sharing. We expect, Vesiclepedia to evolve as a primary resource for EV research.

Extracellular Microvesicles: The Need for Internationally Recognised Nomenclature and Stringent Purification Criteria
The need for improved methods to isolate and separate pure classes of extracellular microvesicle populations is stressed. Additionally, the need to name the vesicles according to their biogenesis is also stressed.

Vesiclepedia Data Curation Stage 1 Completed!!!!
Essentially, we have developed a compendium that catalogs proteins, RNA and lipids identified in extracellular vesicles including exosomes, ectosomes and apoptotic blebs. We have manually curated the scientific literature to encompass such data from more than 300 published studies resulting in more than 40,000 molecular entries (proteins, lipids and RNA). Additionally, the compendium has information on post-translational modification on proteins identified in extracellular vesicles and we will expand as per the requirements of the field.

ExoCarta version 3.2 Released !!!!!!
Addition of new datasets to ExoCarta. ExoCarta 3.1 was published online on 12/10/2011 and the current update have added more datasets.

ExoCarta version 3.1 published in Nucleic Acids Research
The new update on ExoCarta (3.1) is now published in the annual database issue (2012) of Nucleic Acids Research.

ExoCarta version 3.1 released !!!!
The new update on ExoCarta (3.1) is available now for download. Lipids are added to the existing database. Overall, 134 studies are now catalogued in ExoCarta.

Lipids added to ExoCarta
The new update on ExoCarta (3.1) is available now for download. Lipids are added to the existing database.

International Workshop on Exosomes (IWE) 2011
January, 19-22, 2011
Institut Curie, 12 rue Lhomond, 75005 Paris, France
program schedulde

64% of exosomal studies present in ExoCarta have performed rate zonal centrifugations. 48/75 exosomal studies used density gradient centrifugations.

Unpublished B cell exosome data contributed to ExoCarta - Credits: Dr. Willem Stoorvogel. Manuscript is under review process and the data is held as private until the manuscript is published/accepted.

Colorectal cancer-derived exosomes published in Feb. issue of Mol. Cell. Proteomics. Proteomic analysis of A33-immunoaffinity-purified exosomes released from the human colon tumor cell line LIM1215 reveals a tissue-specific protein signature.

ExoCarta release 2.1 is now avaliable for download. ExoCarta now contains data from 75 experiments.

Colorectal cancer-derived exosomes published in Mol. Cell. Proteomics. Proteomic analysis of A33-immunoaffinity-purified exosomes released from the human colon tumor cell line LIM1215 reveals a tissue-specific protein signature.

ExoCarta published in the journal Proteomics. Early view version of the artcile is avlaible at the proteomics journal website.

Colon carcinoma cell line derived exosomes added. LIM1215 colon cancer cell line-derived exosomal proteome data is added to the compendium. The study identified 394 proteins in exosomes isolated by immunoaffinity purification methods using A33 antibody.

Compendium of exosomal contents unveiled. ExoCarta, the exosomal compendium is now available free for use through the web to the entire biomedical community. ExoCarta is first of its kind to catalog information on proteins and RNA identified in exoosmes.