Episode #9: Mariana Matus of Biobot Analytics - a podcast by PJC

from 2020-02-19T10:00

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Episode Summary:
The gut microbiome is a hot topic these days but what about a city’s microbiome? That is what Mariana Matus and her co-founder, Newsha Ghaeli have started to uncover! 

In this episode Rob and Matt chat with Mariana Matus, CEO and Co-Founder of Biobot.  Originally from Mexico City, Mariana settled in Boston after receiving her PhD in Computational Biology from MIT.  Inspired by their mutual interest in how technologies can improve cities and urban life, she and her co-founder, Newsha Ghaeli, started Biobot, which develops cutting-edge technology to transform sewers into public health observatories.  They are 1 of 2 teams doing this research within the US and 1 of 20 worldwide!  In this episode, learn more about their work, how it’s transforming the public health sector, and hear Mariana's advice for first time entrepreneurs who have a science-based background.  

Uncovered in this episode: 

  • How Biobot got started out of a MIT research project 
  • Biobot's success in reducing opioid overdoses within one city by 40% in six months
  • What it was like to start a company in the US as two immigrant founders 
  • Challenges and opportunities inherent in selling to the government sector
  • The benefits of having a co-founder and how important it has been in the process of building Biobot 
  • Biobot’s experience coming out of Y combinator and how they are approaching their next raise 
  • The future of Biobot and their goals for helping cities across the US get ahead of infectious disease and drug abuse epidemics  

List of resources mentioned in episode and suggested reading: 

About Mariana:
Dr. Matus leads technology development at Biobot Analytics. Through her PhD research, she specialized in the emerging field of wastewater-based epidemiology. Dr. Matus holds a PhD in Computational Biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Masters in Biotechnology from Wageningen University and Bachelors in Genome Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico.  

About Biobot:
Biobot Analytics develops cutting-edge technology to transform sewers into public health observatories. Wastewater contains valuable information about the health of communities. We collect it. We analyze it. We tell you how to leverage it to make your city better.

Our first product is to measure opioids and other drug metabolites in sewage to estimate consumption in cities. With this data, those working on harm reduction can assess the scope of the epidemic, allocate resources, and gauge the effectiveness of programming over time.  

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