ISHITA SHAH
MATRUBIALS
BY Russell Nichols
Evidently , breast milk has benefits that go beyond babies . According to Ishita Shah , CEO and co-founder of Matrubials , “ nature ’ s first food for newborns ” has big potential to help a variety of customers , young and old .
“ In general , human breast milk has so many different components that change throughout the stages ,” Shah says . “ Understanding the structure and function of molecules , we could identify antibiotic-like molecules .”
Her startup , a spinoff from the Foods for Health Institute at UC Davis , aims to provide safe solutions to reduce health care and the economic burden related to bacterial infections . With her three co-founders , Shah discovered these possibilities through their work in human milk and its nutrients customized to newborns . The antibiotic molecules are small peptides from larger proteins that can kill bacteria , some of which cause diseases .
The first area of focus is women ’ s health . Now that the team knows the specific chemical structure of the molecules in breast milk , they can replicate them to create medications — and formulate them in ointments or tablets — to treat bacterial vaginosis , which impacts about a third of women . The startup is in the early stages , but is seeking FDA approval within the next two years . Shah knows this is a long process and finding funds for early-stage infectious disease startups is challenging because the return on investment takes longer .
Meanwhile , Matrubials is using artificial intelligence to develop products for additional indications starting with skin health , which don ’ t have to go through federal channels before hitting the market . Matrubials was awarded a National Institutes of Health phase one business grant and a pilot Gates Foundation grant and has raised about $ 1.1 million in total , looking to raise an additional $ 900,000 to complete its seed round , Shah says .
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HOW ARE YOU USING AI ? “ The AI allows us to identify numerous peptides based on protein sequences . … We can look through diverse mammalian milks : human , bovine , camel , sheep , goat . We can pick the best ingredients from milks and look into cocktail therapies and combine them into one , two or more products to address different indications .”
WHAT DOES MATRUBIALS MEAN ? “ Matrubials comes from two words : ‘ Matru ’ means mother in Sanskrit and ‘ bials ’ comes from antimicrobials . The name represents that mom is making breast milk as a way of nourishing the baby , but also protecting it from infections , and the protective molecules present the core technology of Matrubials .”
For more on Matrubials , read Russell Nichols ’ Startup of the Month column at comstocksmag . com .
98 comstocksmag . com | August 2022