Interview with Khatija Ali, Founder and CEO of BioSapien

By Sonia K. González, DrPH, MPH

Khatija is the CEO at BioSapien, 3D printing biotechnology company, which is currently developing two provisionally patented products. Outside of the business, Khatija is an Associate Professor/lecturer at multiple colleges and universities in Brooklyn, NY including CUNY, SUNY Downstate and OUM in Australia. Her aim is to provide the field of medicine and life science with new and innovating ideas. Khatija is also involved in non-profit work involving rural schools in Northern Pakistan.

Can you discuss your background and how you became interested in medicine? Tell us the story of how this led you to BioSapien?

At the age of 18, I was a Philosophy major with absolutely no interest in medicine or science until my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer. After two different rounds of chemotherapy over a course of 2 years, a trip to China and endless wheatgrass later; he passed away when I was 21. I decided at that time to pursue medicine. In medical school, I was always fascinated by biochemistry and the physiology of how the body works. It’s an elegant machine that is composed of millions of different moving parts at the same time on an atomically level. I wanted to take this understanding and apply it to the innovation aspect of medicine and impact thousands of lives for generations to come. BioSapien came into existence on that very notion unofficially in the winter of 2017. The initial project was concerning a 3D printed biodegradable blood vessel encapsulated by human iPSCs. I worked on that project for the first year and half, learning at McMaster University and then harvesting cells of at the Princeton Innovation Center. During this process, while conducting research at McMaster University’s Dept of Vascular Surgery on a meta-analysis of antibiotic beads, I realized the potential application of the similar concept in drug delivery. I dove deep into the concept of 3D printed drug delivery mechanisms and placed a patent on it.

How would you describe your technology to the layperson? What is it? How does it work?

Think of a patient with a type of cancer you can cut out instead of having to give IV chemotherapy or risk waiting and monitoring. Instead, think of a small bandage-type material that you can wrap around the cancer or area of choice. Once it’s attached, this mesh will slow-release the same type of chemotherapy but to a target area. As the mesh breaks down it releases the drug of choice.

How long did it take to make the idea for BioSapien into reality? How are biodegradable implants changing the field of medicine?

I was unofficially working on this since the fall of 2016. Since then we have seen a significant peak of biodegradable implants within the field of medicine. One of the brilliant innovations out there includes a 3D printed cast for orthopedics.

What has been the hardest part about transitioning from academia into the business world?

The hardest part about transitioning from academia into the business world has been understanding that they truly are two different spectrums that are intertwined. In the business world, an idea is merely a science project until it has tangible numbers and economics attached to it. Academia is the birthplace of such ideas that once the business world nourishes, it becomes a reality.

Why NYC? Why do you think it’s becoming a leader in the health-tech sector?

I love NYC. I feel like I’m the type of person that fits right into the 4 AM hustles of the city. It truly is the city that never sleeps. Now, why is it becoming a leader in health-tech? That’s simple. Nobody’s sleeping and life science is thriving! Look at all the incubators that this city has to offer with a huge appeal to early-stage life science companies.

How can health tech help marginalized communities? Do you see health-tech and public health working more closely in the future to solve some of the issues in disadvantaged communities?

I can see how health tech can help with marginalized communities. Our company is an example of how we might be able to solve some of the issues in disadvantaged communities. For example, our technology can hold oral contraceptive medications for birth control in third world countries.

What is the best advice you have been given?

It always takes twice the time, twice the money, and twice the patience than you think.

FACT SHEET

Grew up in: Mississauga, Canada
City or town you call home: Brooklyn, NYC
Current location: Brooklyn, NYC
Job title: CEO at BioSapien Inc, Assistant Professor at OUM, Lecturer at Brooklyn College and SUNY Downstate
Background and education: MD from Windsor University, BA from McMaster University
Your motto: In singularity
As a child you wanted to be: An astronaut
Health Tech social media must follow: Same as below
Health Tech websites and newsletters you read: All the incubators, BioNJ, BIO, HealthTech.

Interview with Andrea Nye, CEO of Xylyx Bio

Interview with Frank Rimalovski, Executive Director of NYU Entrepreneurial Institute