Passion led us here

Engineered by nature, and so tiny, they could fit on a single strand of hair, exosomes are powerful mediators of long-distance communication that can also deliver cargo to change the behavior of tumor and neighboring cells. For decades, scientist thought that all exosomes did was get rid of cell waste.  Today, analysts believe that the exosome technology market could reach $2.9 billion by 2030.

An early believer in the power of exosomes, Stice's UGA research lab and startup company; Aruna Bio, has been dedicated almost exclusively to the development of a proprietary exosome technology for the treatment of brain injury (namely stroke and TBI) and associated neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer’s and ALS. The UGA patented treatment called AB126™ has the potential to be the first targeted therapy to reduce brain damage.

Stice's research has emerged from translating fundamental pre-clinical animal models into a pre-clinical human therapeutic. Aruna Bio is now on track to submit an Investigational New Drug with the FDA and initiate stroke patient clinical trials fall-2023. We expect this treatment to change the life of many Americans, especially in the “stroke belt” of the Southeast, where someone dies of a stroke every 40 seconds.  Stice was honored to receive the Georgia Bio Innovation Award, for what was deemed as “success in translating science into useful products that will have a positive impact on the health of individuals and the population at large.”