Nassiri Koopaei, who holds a doctorate in pharmaceutics from the UF College of Pharmacy and master’s degrees in public health and chemical and pharmaceutical engineering from the University of Tehran, presented his research about the production of extracellular vesicles from stem cells to a panel of Warrington judges back in 2018, his spirited presentation motivated by an affinity for innovation and a desire to address unmet medical needs in targeted drug delivery.

His enthusiasm was clear to the judges, and he took home a $25,000 prize — money he invested in making his research dreams a reality. Today, Nassiri Koopaei sits at the helm of EriVan Bio, a biotechnology start-up housed in the UF Innovate Sid Martin Biotech Incubator in Alachua, Florida.

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EriVan Bio’s lab is located at UF Innovate | Sid Martin Biotech Incubator in Alachua, Florida. For Nasser Nassiri, co-founder and CEO of EriVan, this lab is a place where ideas can end up helping people with medical needs.

“My grandma died of congestive heart failure, and all the time I was looking for something that can save those patients because I love my grandma so much,” Nasser said.

That’s when he started researching stem cells that can produce really small particles called exosomes.