Boba & Biotech

Armon Sharei | Portal Founder & CEO, Biotechnologies Leader
  • 5.0 (2)
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Boba & Biotech is a candid podcast about what it takes to develop new drugs and the ecosystem of academics, biotechs, pharma and investors behind it. Our field is often misunderstood by outsiders and insiders alike due to the poor communication habits and complex science that underlie human disease. I, Armon Sharei, was a PhD student in chemical engineering when I was first enamoured by the idea of engineering a patient’s own cells to attack their disease. Throughout my journey, we spun out a company, SQZ Biotech, from MIT, raised $400M in investor and partnered funding from Roche, and went public on the NYSE. Eventually my board and I had a big fight, I got kicked out and started all over again!  Please join me as we chat with the people that have dedicated their careers to improving human health and how they navigate the challenges of science, money, corporate politics and the rollercoaster of clinical development. As we sip on our boba throughout these episodes, I promise the only sugar coating will be on the bubbles! Portal Biotechnologies, headquartered in Watertown, MA, is a rapidly scaling cell-engineering platform company redefining how scientists and clinicians engineer cells across research, drug discovery, and therapeutic applications. Since launching its first product in 2024, Portal has built a network of 100+ active customers, received an $8M contract from DARPA and been deployed in most of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies and leading academic hospitals worldwide. Armon Sharei, PhD, is the Founder and CEO of Portal Bio. Previously, Armon founded and served as CEO of SQZ Biotech (NYSE: SQZ), where he raised over $400M, advanced three oncology clinical trials, established a $1B+ collaboration with Roche, and led the IPO. A Stanford and MIT graduate and former Harvard Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Sharei holds 30+ patents and has been widely recognized for his scientific and entrepreneurial leadership.

Episodes

  1. Building and Scaling the Tools and Technologies that Underpin Lifesciences

    1H AGO

    Building and Scaling the Tools and Technologies that Underpin Lifesciences

    In this episode of Boba & Biotech, I go for a tasty brown sugar milk tea with Martin Madaus, former CEO of one of the biggest technology providers in our field, Millipore, for a wide-ranging conversation on what actually creates value in life sciences. Martin traces his unconventional path from veterinary medicine to global leadership roles across pharma, diagnostics, and life science tools, and shares hard-earned perspective on platform businesses versus therapeutics, why tool companies often struggle with adoption, and when M&A truly makes sense. He pushes back on the idea that therapeutics are intellectually “superior” to tools and highlights underappreciated technologies like MRD testing and spatial proteomics. Martin also makes a forceful case for moving beyond animal testing in favor of organ-on-chip models. The episode closes with a look at where real clinical impact may come next - from cell therapies to emerging innovation out of China. Martin Madaus is a seasoned public-company CEO, who has led and advised diagnostics and life science tools companies for decades, including serving as Chairman and CEO of Ortho Clinical Diagnostics and as President, Chairman, and CEO of Millipore Corporation, which he led through its $7.2 billion sale to Merck KGaA. Earlier in his career, he was CEO of Roche Diagnostics North America. Dr. Madaus holds a DVM from the University of Munich and a Ph.D. from the Veterinary University of Hannover. Links Armon’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/armonsharei/  Martin’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/martin-madaus-3baaa728/  Credits Hosted by Armon Sharei, PhD Research by Julie Kim, MBA Produced by Arielle Nissenblatt of Pinwheel, Carolyn Corbet of Portal  Edited and mixed by David Woje of Pinwheel

    41 min
  2. Introducing Boba & Biotech: The Only Thing We Sugarcoat is the Boba

    JAN 29

    Introducing Boba & Biotech: The Only Thing We Sugarcoat is the Boba

    In the pilot episode of Boba & Biotech, I try out a homemade milk tea with my long time friend and colleague, Shirley Mao. The goal of this episode is to invite listeners into my world - inside and outside of work - and to share the vision behind this brand-new podcast. It's also the fastest way to figure out if I’m boring or insufferable :) From an early interest in math and science, to Stanford, MIT, and the leap from academia into entrepreneurship, the conversation traces what it really takes to turn discovery into real-world impact. We unpack the highs and lows of founding the first company, SQZ Biotech - from early scientific validation and a pivotal Roche partnership to hard-earned leadership lessons along the way.  We also chat about why biotech’s public image misses the mark, how jaded leadership can emerge, and why human clinical translation, not discovery, is the hardest and most important part of the journey. Links mentioned: #cellstories Portal Connect with Armon Connect with Shirley Credits: Hosted by Armon Sharei, PhD Research by Andressa Carroll, Portal  and Shirley Mao, rvnway.com  Produced by Arielle Nissenblatt of Pinwheel, Andressa Carroll of Portal  Edited and mixed by David Woje of Pinwheel

    39 min
  3. Welcome to Boba & Biotech, here's the scoop from Armon Sharei

    SEASON 1, EPISODE 1 TRAILER

    Welcome to Boba & Biotech, here's the scoop from Armon Sharei

    Biotech has a PR problem. It's messy, complex, and hard to understand from the outside looking in. That's why I'm starting Boba & Biotech. I’m Armon Sharei. You might know me from my cell cartoons on LinkedIn. I was born in California, grew up in Iran and Dubai, and somehow ended up spending most of my life thinking about cells. In this intro episode, I'll lay out my career - how I got to where I am today. Hint: I’m a chemical engineer by training and during my PhD, my colleagues and I accidentally discovered something that led to my first company: SQZ Biotech SQZ went on to operate for ten years. We raised about $400 million, partnered with Roche, went public in 2020, and tried to create a new class of cancer therapies.  Now, I'm the founder and CEO of Portal - a next-gen version of what SQZ had started. Today, we have over 100 customers, a growing team, and support from DARPA to democratize access to next gen cell therapies.  I also proudly sustain a near daily boba habit. I ALSO believe strongly that if you make a difference through science, that difference is irreversible. No one can ever take back a cure to a disease. And that’s why this podcast exists.  Boba & Biotech is about giving biotech a real face. It’s about scientists, founders, investors, pharma leaders, and the people in between - talking without the sanitized b******t about how this industry actually works. We’ll talk about science, clinical trials, finance, and all the other ingredients that go into making a drug. More info: About me About Portal

    2 min

Trailer

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

Boba & Biotech is a candid podcast about what it takes to develop new drugs and the ecosystem of academics, biotechs, pharma and investors behind it. Our field is often misunderstood by outsiders and insiders alike due to the poor communication habits and complex science that underlie human disease. I, Armon Sharei, was a PhD student in chemical engineering when I was first enamoured by the idea of engineering a patient’s own cells to attack their disease. Throughout my journey, we spun out a company, SQZ Biotech, from MIT, raised $400M in investor and partnered funding from Roche, and went public on the NYSE. Eventually my board and I had a big fight, I got kicked out and started all over again!  Please join me as we chat with the people that have dedicated their careers to improving human health and how they navigate the challenges of science, money, corporate politics and the rollercoaster of clinical development. As we sip on our boba throughout these episodes, I promise the only sugar coating will be on the bubbles! Portal Biotechnologies, headquartered in Watertown, MA, is a rapidly scaling cell-engineering platform company redefining how scientists and clinicians engineer cells across research, drug discovery, and therapeutic applications. Since launching its first product in 2024, Portal has built a network of 100+ active customers, received an $8M contract from DARPA and been deployed in most of the top 10 global pharmaceutical companies and leading academic hospitals worldwide. Armon Sharei, PhD, is the Founder and CEO of Portal Bio. Previously, Armon founded and served as CEO of SQZ Biotech (NYSE: SQZ), where he raised over $400M, advanced three oncology clinical trials, established a $1B+ collaboration with Roche, and led the IPO. A Stanford and MIT graduate and former Harvard Postdoctoral Fellow, Dr. Sharei holds 30+ patents and has been widely recognized for his scientific and entrepreneurial leadership.

Information

  • Creator
    Armon Sharei | Portal Founder & CEO, Biotechnologies Leader
  • Years Active
    2K
  • Episodes
    3
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026
  • Show Website
    Boba & Biotech