The presentation titled “Beyond Saccharomyces boulardii: The Probiotic Potential of New Saccharomyces cerevisiae Strains and Their Extracellular Vesicles” focused on the probiotic potential of new yeast strains.

The research conducted by Aleksander Gryciuk, MSc, focuses on the analysis of extracellular vesicles from probiotic yeast strains in the Warsaw University of Technology collection and their potential as carriers of bioactive molecules. His work involves an interdisciplinary approach at the intersection of microbiology, cell biology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. This topic holds significant importance in the context of human health and the development of modern microbiological therapies.

“Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are very small, spherical structures surrounded by a cell membrane and filled with various substances such as proteins, DNA, or RNA,” explains Aleksander Gryciuk. “They are about a thousand times smaller in diameter than a human hair. All living cells produce them—from bacteria and yeast to human cells. These vesicles enable cells to ‘communicate’ with one another, transmitting various types of information without direct contact.”

The presentation featured the latest experimental data, which served as the basis for selecting research targets to be used in further studies on the application of extracellular vesicles in pharmacy.

Aleksander Gryciuk is pursuing his PhD at the Chair of Drug and Cosmetics Biotechnology at the Faculty of Chemistry of the Warsaw University of Technology, under NCN grant no. 2023/49/B/NZ9/03663. The project, supervised by Jolanta Mierzejewska, PhD, associate professor, is titled "Exploring extracellular vesicles of probiotic yeast as carriers of biologically active molecules transferred to human intestinal cells."