How Biobot Analytics Uses Sewage Data to Stop Disease Outbreaks
- yanabijoor
- 3 days ago
- 3 min read
What is the problem?
Public health authorities usually rely on lagging indicators, such as hospitalizations and clinical test results, to detect disease outbreaks and drug epidemics. The conventional approach is restrictive, as it can only detect cases among those who are able or can afford to go to the hospital for diagnosis. This creates a significant data gap among disadvantaged populations, and once an outbreak has been detected, it is too late, as the epidemic has grown beyond containment.
What is the solution?
Biobot Analytics treats municipal wastewater as a comprehensive yet anonymous map of the community's health. The company uses specialized sensors and molecular analysis to detect chemical and biological markers in sewage facilities. This technique captures data from any individual who uses the bathroom and provides an inclusive, population-level dataset that does not rely on the health care system or medical insurance.
What is the business model and capital raised?
Biobot uses the Data as a Service business model to generate revenue by providing health analytics subscription services to local governments, government agencies, and pharmaceutical companies.
Government and Public Health: Local governments and government agencies, such as the CDC, purchase the service for ongoing sampling and data visualization of community health risks and new pathogens.
Commercial Insights: Biobot has partnered with the private sector to provide predictive insights to optimize patient selection for clinical trials and to allocate medical supplies.
Capital Raised: The organization has raised approximately $13.4 million in financing. These include an initial seed round of $6.7 million in 2020, followed by $2.5 million in 2021, and smaller rounds throughout the pandemic.
Why is it innovative?
Biobot transforms wastewater sampling from a purely academic field into a commercial technology. The company has used its IoT hardware and genome sequencing to provide intelligence weeks before clinical healthcare data would indicate an outbreak. This model is unique because it gathers intelligence on the population without active participation.
What is the impact?
Biobot is now an integral part of the American biosecurity and public health system.
National Reach: At the height of the pandemic, the organization worked with the CDC to track sewage samples in over 1,000 sites throughout the country, spanning all 50 states.
Overdose Reduction: Biobot's insights have been used in the city of Cary, North Carolina, where their work led to the implementation of targeted harm reduction efforts that contributed to a 40 percent decrease in opioid overdose deaths.
Pathogen Monitoring: In addition to tracking COVID-19, Biobot also tracks other pathogens, such as norovirus and mpox, as well as dangerous substances, including fentanyl and xylazine, for 100 million Americans.
What are the areas to improve?
Biobot must continue to demonstrate the ROI of its wastewater data to local governments to remain a fixture in their budget planning. Furthermore, as Biobot continues to expand into different regions, it will need to account for the challenges of managing its sensor technology across diverse or deteriorating sewage systems.
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