Guest speaker, Dr. Mariana Matus, co-founder and CEO of Biobot Analytics will present “My journey of spinning off my Ph.D. research into a Startup”

Abstract: Learn more about how Mariana Matus, CEO and co-founder of Biobot Analytics, turned her research at MIT into an award-winning startup that revolutionized the field of disease surveillance. Biobot Analytics introduced a novel approach to monitoring public health called wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE): analyzing sewage to detect traces of pathogens and substances excreted by populations. Since Biobot's founding in 2017, WBE has emerged as a powerful tool for early detection of infectious diseases, high risk substances, and other public health threats.

Bio: Mariana is CEO and co-founder of Biobot Analytics, the first company in the world to bring wastewater epidemiology to market. Biobot uses cutting-edge technology to transform sewers into public health observatories, effectively using wastewater data to evaluate and improve the health of communities. Mariana received her PhD from the Department of Biological Engineering at MIT in Computational Biology, where she specialized in the emerging field of wastewater epidemiology. In addition to her doctoral studies, Mariana cofounded the MIT Underworlds Smart Sewers Project, leading the vision and funding for an interdisciplinary research project with collaborators from MIT’s Department of Urban Studies and Planning. This work led to the creation of Biobot Analytics, and set the scientific foundation for Biobot's wastewater intelligence platform—now serving the CDC and communities across all 50 US states. Mariana plans to expand Biobot’s venture backed platform into communities all over the globe.

Dr. Matus has been recognized for her leadership and entrepreneurial excellence through several awards. In 2020, she was named to the C&EN Trailblazing Women in Chemistry. She made Newsweek’s list of America’s 50 Greatest Disruptors in 2021, and their list of America’s 50 Enterprising Idealists in 2022. Boston Globe named Dr. Matus #8 on their inaugural 50 Tech Power Players list for 2022, and TIME100 NEXT recognized her as a 2022 industry innovator. Most recently, she was named a 2023 Henry Crown Fellow within the Aspen Global Leadership Network at the Aspen Institute.

The public is welcome and admission is free.

Press release for more information