Message from the RBC Director
Join us in twenty years of celebration!
In 2024, we celebrate two decades of the UGA’s Regenerative Bioscience Center—an incredible journey that fills us with pride. From its modest beginnings, the RBC has evolved into a powerhouse of innovation. Witnessing its growth and the embrace of interdisciplinary collaboration is truly remarkable.
Our approach to research transcends boundaries, engaging veterinarians, scientists, and clinicians in a shared mission. It’s been an extraordinary journey, and I feel privileged to be a part of it. Collaborating with a diverse community of faculty, students, and staff, we touch countless lives.
Our team, led by Jarrod Call, proudly earned a DOD award, one of only 20 in the entire nation. RESTORE, a $1.5m grant to study Service-related neuromusculoskeletal injury. We are using regenerative rehabilitation to restore function in war fighters. Our end goal is always to think about the big picture. Military fighters get injuries that make it impossible for them to go back to their old battlefield roles, but they’ve got a whole life ahead of them. We want to help them become great dads, husbands, wives, and moms, and to just give them a better quality of life.
Dr. Steven Stice, Director of the Regenerative Bioscience Center
Regenerative rehabilitation is the future. It’s about merging advanced treatments like neuronal stem cells, exosomes, and biomaterials with traditional rehab. This isn’t just a trend; it’s what’s happening in clinics. Combining biomaterials with physical rehab can be a game-changer. This is where research meets real-life transformation.
“Without a doubt the resources from the RBC networks primed our research for a successful grant application,” said Call.
The RBC is leading the fight against Alzheimer’s and other brain disorders by bringing together faculty, expertise, and the technical resources to create an interdisciplinary research effort across UGA. RBC Jamise Lee has leveraged her REM seed-grant research in working with Natural Killer Cells to stop the disease progression of Parkinson’s into significant support from the Michael J Fox Foundation. Yao Yao and I are working on the therapeutic and diagnostic potential of extracellular vesicles in ALS and Stroke disease. Qun Zhao, Leidong Mao, and Lohitash Karumbaiah’s research publication shows for the first time that “surfen” can stop certain types of signaling in the brain that promotes the spread of brain tumors in gioblastoma.
In a groundbreaking discovery, the Regenerative Engineering and Medicine (REM) seed-grant program has unveiled a potential game-changer for individuals suffering from cancer-related lymphedema. This revolutionary finding, led by RBC co-founder, Dr. John Peroni, not only lays the foundation for innovative treatment options for lymph-related disorders, including chronic wound complications, but also holds promise in mitigating cancer spread.
Every day, our mission drives us forward, reminding us of the impact we can make.
Your financial support is invaluable, playing a crucial role in realizing the extraordinary potential of regenerative medicine. You are truly making a difference in the lives of many. Discover some of our research milestones here (online link).
Thank you for being a part of our journey.
Sincerely,
Steven Stice, RBC Director
