About
Terri Bruce graduated in 1993 with bachelor’s degrees in Chemical Engineering and Applied Biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, and have over 13 years of industrial experience, including process design engineering and product development. After working in industry, she returned to school to pursue a graduate degree and earned her doctorate in Biological Sciences in 2009 from Clemson University, specializing in Cell Biology. After graduation, she began directing the Clemson Light Imaging Facility (CLIF), which is the core advanced light imaging facility at Clemson. As a research assistant professor and academic program director, she oversees the CLIF, and pursues independent research.
In Bruce’s research lab, they strive to understand the fundamental pathways involved in the packaging, trafficking, and exocytosis of exosomes by host cells and the subsequent uptake, trafficking and dissemination of exosomal cargo by target cells. Her team is also interested in developing new methods of isolating exosomes as current methods are time consuming and expensive. For exosomes to be utilized as diagnostic indicators of disease, faster, less expensive isolation methods must be developed. Bruce’s current research, which is conducted in conjunction with her clinical partner, Dr. Larry Puls (Prisma Health), is focused on the discovery of exosomal biomarkers for use in liquid biopsies for early ovarian cancer screening. Along with Dr. Ken Marcus, she developed a new exosome isolation method using capillary-channeled polymer fibers, which results in the clean and efficient isolation of exosomes from body fluids. This technology is now being commercialized through Bruce’s company, Victory ExoFibres, Inc.
Visit Dr. Bruce's Department Profile.
How their research is transforming healthcare
T.S. Eliot once wrote, “Genuine poetry can communicate before it is understood,” and, so it is with every cell in our body. “How do cells communicate?” It is a fascinating question that lies at the center of many biological mysteries. Fundamental knowledge of the strategies that cells use to transmit information is necessary to understand a range of biological processes from immune responses to tissue organization and organogenesis, as well as disease progression, wound healing and regeneration. Bruce’s research focuses on investigating the principles of cell communication between each other and their microenvironment through the study of extracellular vesicles (EVs). Once simply considered cellular debris, these cellular “breadcrumbs” have been shown to act as shuttles for transferring bioactive factors between cells and from cells to their microenvironment. Recent evidence points to the involvement of one subset of EVs, called exosomes, in a number of normal and disease processes, including stem cell renewal, cancer metastasis, inflammatory responses, and chemotaxis. In addition, exosomes, which carry marker proteins indicative of their cellular origin, have been found in bodily fluids, including blood and saliva, indicating that they may be utilized as biomarkers for use in liquid biopsies. While utilizing exosomes for disease diagnostics is promising, current isolation techniques are costly, time-consuming, and insufficient for removal of contaminants. Bruce and her team have developed new isolation platforms for the development of a straightforward, inexpensive exosome-based screening test for ovarian cancer to increase early detection and further understanding of the biomolecular changes in tumor cells during disease progression.
Health Research Key Words
Faculty Scholar, Extracellular vesicle; exosomes (isolation, characterization); liquid biopsy; ovarian cancer (early detection, exosomal biomarkers); viral diagnostics
