Contact

Jana Ramon
Laboratory for General Biochemistry and Physical Pharmacy
Ghent University
Ottergemsesteenweg 460
9000 Ghent
Belgium
Tel: 0032 9 264 8047 (secretary)
Tel: 0032 9 264 8365 (direct)
E-mail: jana.ramon@ugent.be

Biography

Education
Jana Ramon started Pharmaceutical Sciences in 2013 and obtained in 2016 her Bachelor’s degree with great distinction. Subsequently she started the Master of Science in Drug Development and graduated in 2018 with greatest distinction. She performed her master in the Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Sciences, with the title: Evaluation of granule and tablet properties related to hot-melt granulation using a twin screw extruder.

Scholarship
In October 2018, Jana started her PhD in the laboratory for General Biochemistry and Physical Pharmacy. In June of that year, she obtained a Ph.D. fellowship of the Research Foundation-Flanders (FWO).

Research interests
Extracellular Vesicles (EVs), cell tropism, intercellular communication, Vapor NanoBubble (VNB) mediated photoporation, tumour microenvironment, siRNA

Educational tasks
Tutor of the Pharmaceutical Bachelor Proof since 2018 (Ghent University, Belgium)

Summary of Research Project(s)

Extracellular Vesicles (EVs) are cell-derived structures composed of a lipid membrane surrounding an aqueous core which contains several bioactive molecules. In the last years, these nanosized vesicles are considered to play a pivotal role in intercellular communication as vesicles formed in one cell can be released as exosomes and transfer their cargo to another cell. In relation to this, It has been shown that EVs have a unique surface fingerprint that steers cell tropism. Due to those features, interest is growing in these EVs as they have the potential to become a new and more specific tool for drug delivery.

The research project of Jana focuses on the use of VNB-mediated photoporation to study intercellular communication that is exercised by EVs and gain more insights in their cell tropism. VNB-mediated photoporation will be used as a novel technique to load the cells with fluorescent molecules which can subsequently be packed in the EVs. This laser-based technique allows the formation of transient pores in the cell membrane leading to the uptake of the cargo. To examine the transfer of EVs from one cell type to another, complex co-cultures will be used to mimic the tumour microenvironment. Besides the use of fluorescent molecules as cargo, the potential of EVs for siRNA delivery and transfer between cells will be evaluated.