How I Built This with Guy Raz HIBT Lab! Biobot Analytics: Mariana Matus and Newsha Ghaeli
Feb 9, 2023
Mariana Matus and Newsha Ghaeli, co-founders of Biobot Analytics, are revolutionizing public health with innovative wastewater analysis. Mariana, a computational biologist from Mexico, and Newsha, an architect from Canada, share how their unique backgrounds led them to uncover vital health indicators in sewage. They discuss detecting disease spikes, including COVID-19, and envision transforming wastewater facilities into data hubs to enhance urban health strategies. Join them as they explore future-proofing cities with smart infrastructure and leveraging data for the greater good.
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Meeting in a Poop Lab
- Mariana Matus and Newsha Ghaeli met in 2014 at MIT.
- Matus, a computational biologist, worked in a "poop lab" analyzing gut bacteria.
Collecting Sewage
- Early Biobot research involved physically collecting sewage samples.
- Researchers, including Matus and Ghaeli, pumped sewage from manholes.
Initial Research Focus
- Initial research focused on detecting influenza in wastewater.
- The first experiment failed, prompting investigation into methodology and sample collection times.