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Boba & Biotech

Boba & Biotech

By: Armon Sharei | Portal Founder & CEO Biotechnologies Leader
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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.2026 Economics Personal Finance Science
Episodes
  • From the Newsroom to the C-Suite: Coaching Biotech's Best Storytellers

    From the Newsroom to the C-Suite: Coaching Biotech's Best Storytellers
    Sep 24 2026
    Guest: Mike Huckman, Principal, Huckman Group In this episode of Boba & Biotech, Armon sits down with longtime biotech communications advisor and former CNBC reporter, Mike Huckman, to talk about one of life sciences’ biggest challenges: communicating complex science in a way that people actually understand. Mike shares his unconventional path from local TV news to covering pharma, biotech, and medtech at CNBC, and eventually helping biotech leaders tell their stories. The conversation dives into why life sciences often defaults to jargon, Wall Street language, and overly technical narratives—and why “people can only value what they understand.” Armon and Mike explore how biotech companies can communicate more simply, empathetically, and “info-taining” across audiences, from investors and analysts to patients, policymakers, and the general public. They discuss the power of analogies (including Armon’s famous “sumo wrestler through a hula hoop” explanation), the importance of having a clear problem/solution/“why it matters” story, preparing for communications crises before they happen, and why patient communities can be some of a company’s most important audiences. Mike’s advice for the industry? Tune in to find out! Mike Huckman is the Global Practice Leader of Executive Communications at Real Chemistry. He is an in-demand communications coach and consultant to dozens of companies in the life sciences ecosystem, senior leaders, venture capitalists, and academic researchers. From his background as a seasoned TV news reporter who covered the sector for nearly a decade at CNBC and his experience as a consultant since 2010, Mike has burnished a distinctive approach to life sciences communications. He has earned a reputation as a trusted advisor across the life sciences field. Links Armon’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/armonsharei/ Mike’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-huckman-71b21412/ Credits Hosted by Armon Sharei, PhD Research by Julie Kim Produced by David Woje, Woje Productions, Andressa Carroll, Portal Edited and mixed by David Woje
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    47 mins
  • SQZ Series Part I - with Jon Gilbert Building SQZ From a Lab Bench to a Roche Deal

    SQZ Series Part I - with Jon Gilbert Building SQZ From a Lab Bench to a Roche Deal
    Aug 27 2026
    Backed by popular demand, we're kicking off a SQZ series on Boba & Biotech. For part I, Armon sits down with Jon Gilbert, his longtime friend and SQZ’s third employee, now leading the TuneLab effort at Eli Lilly. Taking turns as hosts, they revisit the scrappy, unpredictable early days of SQZ and unpack what it really took to turn a weird but promising idea (literally squeezing cells) into a company pursuing transformative applications in drug delivery and cell therapy. The conversation is packed with stories and lessons from the trenches: what it was like to raise money as young, non-traditional founders in biotech; the winding road to SQZ’s early partnerships and its pivotal first deal with Roche; the story behind the initially controversial (but highly memorable!) smiling-cell cartoons; and the constant balancing act of making decisions in the inevitable gray areas of startup life. Jonathan Gilbert is Senior Director of Ecosystem Growth and Contributor Partnerships at Eli Lilly, where he is leading the growth of TuneLab - a collaborative research environment designed to enable biotechs to leverage AI models trained on decades of Lilly data, while contributing data back to improve those models while preserving privacy. Jon received his PhD in Chemical Engineering from MIT and spent nearly a decade at SQZ, where he helped build the company’s business development, early-stage research, and partnerships engine. Prior to joining Eli Lilly, Jon helped build the first prototypes for Portal and led Corporate Development and Strategy at Entact Bio. Links Watch the original stop-motion video that brought SQZ’s ‘smiling cells’ to life and helped make the science accessible to a broader audience: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJYN4W1apYw Armon’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/armonsharei/ Jon’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jonathan-gilbert-innovation-new-therapies/ Credits Hosted by Armon Sharei, PhD Research by Julie Kim,MBA, Portal Produced by David Woje, Woje Productions, Andressa Carroll, Portal Edited and mixed by David Woje
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    56 mins
  • Robots, Cells, and the Future of Individualized Medicine

    Robots, Cells, and the Future of Individualized Medicine
    Jul 30 2026
    Guest: Fred Parietti In this episode of Boba & Biotech, Armon sits down with Federico ("Fred") Parietti, Co-Founder and CEO of Multiply Labs, for a conversation about bringing robotics and AI into one of biotech's biggest bottlenecks: manufacturing. Fred shares how meeting his future co-founder at MIT opened his eyes to just how manual biopharmaceutical manufacturing still was, inspiring the creation of Multiply Labs to automate the production of advanced therapies. Nearly a decade later, the company has grown into a leader in robotic biomanufacturing, partnering with major pharmaceutical companies to help scale cell/gene therapies, antibodies, and other biologic medicines. The conversation covers the realities of raising capital as a first-time founder, how Y Combinator helped launch their journey in Silicon Valley, why peer-reviewed data and live customer demos matter more than hype, and how AI is shifting biotech's next bottleneck from drug discovery to manufacturing. Along the way, Fred reflects on the resilience required to navigate difficult partnerships and investors, and why staying optimistic is one of a founder's most valuable skills.Fred is the Co-Founder and CEO of Multiply Labs, a biotechnology company developing robotic manufacturing platforms for advanced therapeutics, including personalized pharmaceuticals and cell therapies. A robotics engineer by training, Fred earned his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from MIT. Links Armon’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/armonsharei/ Fred’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fred-parietti/ Credits Hosted by Armon Sharei, PhD Research by Julie Kim, Briana Mach Produced by David Woje, Woje Productions, Andressa Carroll, Portal Edited and mixed by David Woje
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    42 mins
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