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Boba & Biotech

Boba & Biotech

By: Armon Sharei | Portal Founder & CEO Biotechnologies Leader
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Summary

 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 Bench to Boardroom: What Drug Development Actually Takes

    From Bench to Boardroom: What Drug Development Actually Takes
    May 7 2026
    Guest: William Pao In this episode of Boba & Biotech, Armon sits down with William Pao, a physician-scientist who has run oncology R&D at Roche, served as Chief Development Officer at Pfizer, and is now CEO and Co-Founder of Revelio Therapeutics. Few people have seen drug development from as many angles. They get into the real economics behind why a single molecule can cost $600M to advance, what it actually feels like to kill a program you believe in, and why the jump from pharma to biotech is more disorienting than most people expect. Plus: where AI in drug development is genuinely useful, where it isn't, and what the Paxlovid story reveals about why institutional memory matters more than anyone talks about. William Pao is a physician-scientist whose career has spanned academia, industry, and biotech. As a faculty member at Memorial Sloan-Kettering and Vanderbilt University, he was a practicing oncologist recognized for ground-breaking work in targeted cancer therapeutics and personalized medicine. Through executive leadership at Roche and Pfizer, he oversaw the development of molecules now approved across cancer, rare diseases, ophthalmology, infectious diseases, neuroscience, and immunology. He is currently CEO and Co-Founder of Revelio Therapeutics, co-founder of MyCancerGenome, and author of Breakthrough: The Quest for Life-Changing Medicines. He holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard and an M.D. and Ph.D. from Yale. Links Armon’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/armonsharei/ William’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/william-pao-md-phd-40719295/ William’s book - https://breakthroughbypao.com/ Credits Hosted by Armon Sharei, PhD Research by Julie Kim, MBA Produced by Arielle Nisseblatt of Pinwheel, Andressa Carroll, Portal Edited and mixed by David Woje
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    57 mins
  • Learning Biotech, Surviving Near-Death, and Seeing What Others Don’t

    Learning Biotech, Surviving Near-Death, and Seeing What Others Don’t
    Apr 23 2026
    Guest:Sophia Lugo In this episode of Boba & Biotech, Sophia Lugo and I grab some delicious boba teas to explore her unconventional path into biotech and the realities of building a company at the frontier of genetic medicine. From her early experiences across Harvard, China, and the Gates Foundation to co-founding Radar during her time at Stanford, Sophia shares how urgency, ambition, and a belief in personal agency shaped her journey. She also discusses Radar’s progress, including its mission to solve targeted mRNA delivery and its next milestone of translating in vitro results into in vivo success. The conversation also dives into a critique of the biotech industry - from fundraising as a sales-driven process to the dynamics that shape founder ownership, culture, and exit opportunities. Sophia reflects on a near-death moment early in Radar’s life, the lessons it taught her, and why she believes many of biotech’s constraints, whether cultural or regulatory, are more flexible than they appear. Sophia Lugo is CEO, Chairman, and Co-Founder at Radar Therapeutics, a company enabling precise in vivo genetic medicines, the first company to be able to selectively activate an mRNA therapeutic only in exact cell types of interest. For her work at Radar, Sophia has received the 2024 Biocom Catalyst Award celebrating top professionals under 40 disrupting the life sciences industry. She received her Bachelor’s from Harvard University, Masters from Tsinghua University, and MBA from Stanford University. Links Armon’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/armonsharei/ Sophia’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/sophia-lugo-6b8091123/ Radar Therapeutics: https://www.radartx.bio/ Credits Hosted by Armon Sharei, PhD Research by Julie Kim, MBA Produced by Arielle Nisseblatt of Pinwheel, Andressa Carroll, Portal Edited and mixed by David Woje of Pinwheel
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    1 hr and 11 mins
  • Inside the Biotech Incubator: What Early Companies Get Right (and Wrong)

    Inside the Biotech Incubator: What Early Companies Get Right (and Wrong)
    Apr 9 2026
    Guest: Adam Jenkins What actually makes or breaks a biotech startup - and why is it rarely the science? In this episode of Boba & Biotech, Adam Jenkins and I enjoy some delicious grapefruit-coconut sago from Heytea while we discuss the hidden dynamics shaping today’s biotech ecosystem. From the inside workings of incubators like BioLabs and LabCentral to the uncomfortable truth about “zombie” startups, this conversation pulls back the curtain on what really happens between breakthrough science and company success. Along the way, Adam shares hard-earned insights from years of evaluating and advising early-stage companies, revealing why culture trumps data, why your first hires matter more than your pitch deck, and why taking VC money too early might be your biggest mistake. If you’re a founder, operator, or investor navigating biotech, this episode is equal parts reality check and roadmap. Adam Jenkins is the regional site director for BioLabs, where he manages sites across Boston, Cambridge, Vermont, and Toronto. BioLabs is a global innovation infrastructure company creating the physical and community backbone that powers life science discovery worldwide. Prior to BioLabs Adam worked at Biogen, a global biotech focused on neurology, where he headed their data science teams and helped lead their portfolio strategy. He holds a PhD in genetics from Boston College and an MBA from Indiana University. Links Armon’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/armonsharei/ Adam’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/adammjenks/ Biolabs: https://www.biolabs.io/ Credits Hosted by Armon Sharei, PhD Research by Julie Kim, MBA Produced by Arielle Nisseblatt of Pinwheel, Andressa Carroll, Portal Edited and mixed by David Woje of Pinwheel
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    44 mins
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