Biobot Analytics

We are building early warning health analytics 

from data available in our sewers.

Mariana Matus

CEO and Cofounder

mariana@biobot.io
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www.biobot.io

Biobot is a spin-off from MIT

Mariana Matus, PhD

CEO & COFOUNDER

Background:

Computational Biology & 

Microbiology

MIT PhD dissertation on 

Background: wastewater epidemiology

Architecture & Engineering

MIT Research Fellowship on 

smart city technologies

PRESIDENT & COFOUNDER

Newsha Ghaeli
Molecular Biology & 

Analytical Chemistry

Computational Biology & 

Data Science

Public Health & 

Epidemiology

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Data Visualization & 

Software Engineering

www.biobot.io

Core Technical Teams
Andrew Weber

Government Affairs Advisor

Former Asst. Secretary of Defense for Nuclear, 

Chemical & Biological Defense Programs, 

2009-2014

Board of Advisors

John Brownstein, PhD 

Public Health Advisor

Chief Innovation Officer, 

Boston Children’s Hospital

Professor, Harvard Medical School

Scientific 

Advisory Board

Eric Alm, PhD

Professor of Biological Engineering, MIT

Bill Hanage, PhD

Professor of Epidemiology, 

Harvard School of Public Health

Timothy Erickson, MD

Emergency Medicine Physician, Brigham & 

Women’s Hospital; Division Chief of Medical 

Toxicology, Harvard Medical School, Faculty, 

Harvard Humanitarian Initiative

Peter Chai, MD

Professor of Emergency Medicine, 

Harvard Medical School
Biobot’s Covid-19 WBE work in the news

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www.biobot.io

Biotech innovation award: 

#3 behind Pfizer and Moderna
Predictive

Our wastewater epidemiology platform enables early 

warning health analytics to combat pandemics.

Wastewater data is a 

leading indicator for 

new infectious disease 

cases.

Everyone has a voice 

in the sewer. Our data 

includes everyone, not 

just people who access 

clinical care.

Inclusive

Wastewater is a rich 

source of health data, 

including Covid19, 

influenza, opioids, diet, 

stress, and others.

Versatile

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www.biobot.io
We started by 

addressing the 

opioid epidemic

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www.biobot.io

Neighborhood-level data on opioid use, 

overdose & treatment
Rapid response to 

Covid-19

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Shipping Kit

● Customers collect 

composite wastewater 

samples and ships 

them in Biobot 

provided transportation 

kits

● Customers input site/ 

day specific metadata 

into Biobot’s customer 

web portal for each 

sample

● Summary data analysis, 

findings and 

visualizations are 

packaged as reports 

and sent directly to 

customers or uploaded 

to a dashboard

● Current: qPCR analysis 

for Covid-19 and 

variants.

● Upcoming: sequencing 

for C19 variants & 

metabolomics for 

opioids and other 

high-priority drugs.

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Lab Analysis Reporting

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Ordering

● Customers order 

sample kits

● Biobot’s fulfillment 

partner overnight ships 

kits directly to the 

customer site

How it works

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● Testing results flow 

through Biobot’s 

automated 

computational data 

analysis pipelines 

where they are 

ingested, QC’ed and 

validated

Data Analysis 

www.biobot.io
states + 46 provinces 

samples 8000+ tested of U.S. 13% population

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500 communities

Explore the data!

www.biobot.io/data

www.biobot.io
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HHS Covid-19 wastewater monitoring program

www.biobot.io

50 states people 100M tested 320 communities samples 6,000 tested 

● No-cost program for 320 communities.

● Testing started June 7th, 2021, and will continue for 10 weeks.

● We are generating SARS2 qPCR concentrations + Genomic sequencing 

data to study variants.

● qPCR data will be reported through HHS Protect and CDC NWSS.

● Sequencing data will be uploaded to NCBI.

Want to hear more or get involved? Email support@biobot.io
Independent confirmation of 

clinical data trends

Wastewater data can be analyzed side-by-side with 

clinical data to get independent confirmation of 

trends.

Outbreak detection for early 

intervention

On a background of little disease activity, wastewater 

can detect as few as 3 cases in a population of 1,500

Ranking amongst nationwide 

database

We contextualize if the level of infection is low or high, 

by comparing against our nationwide database of 

communities.

Data analysis & 

insights are our 

core value

proposition

“SARS-CoV-2 titers in wastewater foreshadow dynamics and clinical presentation of new COVID-19 cases.” Wu, F. et al., Preprint MedRxiv, 2020

“Applications of wastewater-based epidemiology as a leading indicator for COVID-19”, Olesen, O. et al., Preprint arxiv, 2021
Wastewater data serves as an independent 

confirmation of clinical data trends

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Nationwide trends (legend)

7-day average of new cases

3-sample average wastewater 

concentration

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“It’s amazing how many residents wait for these numbers

and have come to trust these more than [clinical] testing”

— Wastewater treatment plant director

 in the State of Massachusetts

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Outbreak detection on a background of little disease 

activity

Late Jan/early Feb 2021: 

Low levels of virus in 

wastewater

Feb 18: There are no known infections among patients, 

but wastewater virus spikes. Community responds by 

testing all patients.

Further infections 

are prevented.

Testing reveals that 13 of 60 patients 

(22%) are infected. Most are likely 

presymptomatic. 

(non-detect)

Fraction of people 

known to be infected:

>15% 0-5%
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Ranking amongst nationwide database

Your sample is in the 

34th percentile

from all samples tested in 

the past 6 weeks

www.biobot.io
We can build 

dozens of 

applications with 

our platform

Stress

Opioids

Influenza

Covid-19

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www.biobot.io
Thank you.

Mariana Matus

CEO and Cofounder

mariana@biobot.io