Utkan Demirci

Utkan Demirci, PhD, Professor, Department of Radiology, Stanford University School of Medicine

Research Description: Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes and microvesicles, are present in a variety of bodily fluids, and the concentration of these sub-cellular vesicles and their associated biomarkers (proteins, nucleic acids, and lipids) can be used to aid clinical diagnosis. Although ultracentrifugation is commonly used for isolation of EVs, it is highly time-consuming, labor-intensive and instrument-dependent for both research laboratories and clinical settings. The Demirci lab has developed tools and microfluidic device that isolate and enrich EVs. Their interest lies in utilization of these new biotechnological tools and biological investigation of extracellular vesicles that have great potential to enhance understanding of disease and applying them in conjunction with diabetes research to improve clinical diagnosis in clinics, regenerative medicine and at point-of-care (POC) settings. Dr. Demirci’s laboratory invented the magnetic levitation technology and has received pilot funding from SDRC for the development, characterization and optimization of the levitation technology for islet isolation.

Selected relevant publications (Stanford DRC Members in BOLD):

  1. Razavi M, Ren T, Zheng F, Telichko A, Wang J, Dahl JJ, Demirci U, Thakor AS. Facilitating islet transplantation using a three-step approach with mesenchymal stem cells, encapsulation, and pulsed focused ultrasound. Stem Cell Res Ther. 2020 Sep 18;11(1):405. doi: 10.1186/s13287-020-01897-z. PMID: 32948247; PMCID: PMC7501701. 

  2. Puluca N, Durmus NG, Lee S, Belbachir N, Galdos FX, Ogut MG, Gupta R, Hirano KI, Krane M, Lange R, Wu JC, Wu SM, Demirci U. Levitating Cells to Sort the Fit and the Fat. Adv Biosyst. 2020 Jun;4(6):e1900300. doi: 10.1002/adbi.201900300. PMID: 32352239. 

  3. Chandy M, Rhee JW, Ozen MO, Williams DR, Pepic L, Liu C, Zhang H, Malisa J, Lau E, Demirci U, Wu JC. Atlas of Exosomal microRNAs Secreted From Human iPSC-Derived Cardiac Cell Types. Circulation. 2020 Nov 3;142(18):1794-1796. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.048364. Epub 2020 Nov 2. PMID: 33136510. 

  4. Razavi M, Rezaee M, Telichko A, Inan H, Dahl J, Demirci U, Thakor AS. The Paracrine Function of Mesenchymal Stem Cells in Response to Pulsed Focused Ultrasound. Cell Transplant. 2020 Jan-Dec;29:963689720965478. doi: 10.1177/0963689720965478. PMID: 33028105; PMCID: PMC7784560.