Stice

Over the course of my career, I’ve met lots of people who’ve had a stroke or suffered traumatic brain injuries, and currently, there is no cure. 

There aren’t many treatments that are really beneficial to these patients. Traditional medicines typically slow the progression of these diseases and conditions, but our focus at the Regenerative Bioscience Center is to ask how we can put things back to the way they once were. We want patients who’ve experienced a stroke to recover and live a life that is meaningful to them and their family.

Currently, we’re researching how a novel stem cell therapy can rebuild the brain by enhancing the body’s self-repair system to treat a range of neurodegenerative disorders. It’s a very exciting technology that we’ve developed here at the University of Georgia, and it’s pending a first-of-its-kind clinical trial in humans for the treatment of stroke.

This neural exosome-based therapeutic patent is held by a private biotechnology company that I co-founded and where I now serve as the Chief Scientific Officer, Aruna Bio. The University of Georgia has been instrumental in supporting our start-up’s success and is a proving ground for several critical collaborations across campus. An NSF grant for cell manufacturing supports the complex manufacturing processes we require for this therapeutic, and it’s the only way to make drugs like these affordable to reach a larger population. We can’t do it alone, which is why we work with UGA engineers, biologists, and clinicians, as well as other disciplines. 

Stroke, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s and TBIs affect millions of people. What we’re trying to do is something that has never been done before. But that inspires the work we do at the Regenerative Bioscience Center. We feel like our knowledge and research can make a difference in their lives.