SweetBio gives dentists a sweet tooth for better patient outcomes

Isaac Rodriguez is a Co-Founder, CEO/CSO at SweetBio, Inc. one of the four companies in the 2015 ZeroTo510 device accelerator cohort. Isaac graduated from the University of Virginia, Virginia Commonwealth University, and was a Biomedical Engineering Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Memphis and UTHSC. His postdoctoral work related to the development of biomaterial templates for tissue regeneration.

Isaac knows his science, but being an entrepreneur requires a lot of work outside of the lab. To support his startup, Isaac brought out the big guns: his sister Kayla, who he brings the marketing and operational expertise, and Marsalas Whitaker, who has both biomedical and startup experience.

"200 million people will suffer from partial tooth loss over the next 10 years, and oral infections resulting from these surgeries can lead to diabetes, or heart or lung disease, or even death,” said Kayla.

SweetBio’s secret sauce is, in fact, honey...in the form of a bacteria combating membrane innovation for oral surgeries. Called Guided Tissue Regeneration membranes (or GTR membranes), they protect the site after oral surgeries and help the mouth heal. The honey is called Manuka honey or medical grade honey and is currently used in hospitals to treat burns and ulcers. SweetBio is the first to take this to the oral surgery space to use Manuka honey membranes to address the millions of teeth pulled every year.

Kayla Rodriguez studied at the University of Manchester, University of Minnesota: Carlson School of Management, and received her MBA from Hult International Business School. She is an entrepreneur, web developer, marketing and operations expert, and product manager who is passionate about growing SweetBio and Kikfli (a firm she co-founded in the bay area early in 2015) into successful ventures with industry-leading products.

Marsalas recently graduated with a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Memphis. Marsalas is also a ZeroTo510 alumnus from 2013 and has been involved in starting up two other medical device companies. This experience combined with his degree bridges the gap between business and science.

This story is part of a series reviewing the ZeroTo510 and Start Co. Demo Day on August 13. The ZeroTo510 Medical Device Accelerator is a first-in-kind entrepreneurial accelerator program that focuses on leveraging key regional strengths of the Memphis area: biomedical research and medical device manufacturing. The goal of ZeroTo510 is to help medical device startups navigate the startup process, refine their business models and complete the Food and Drug Administration’s 510(k) premarket notification filing.