MaddieBio: How a Father’s Love Drives Cutting-Edge Science

Further testing revealed that Maddie had an extremely rare genetic disorder that resulted in a congenital heart defect alongside other physical disabilities, as well as autism spectrum disorder.

The next step, according to Maddie’s Texas-based doctors, was to consult with a genetics counselor, a health care professional who advises individuals and families about genetic disorders and predispositions. However, Sodhi found that the cost of genetic testing was extremely expensive, and the wait time for an appointment with a genetics counselor could have taken up to a year. 

“Maddie was only a year old by this point, and already showing clear health problems that were only going to get worse” said Sodhi. “We couldn’t afford to wait another year for answers.”  

To expedite Maddie’s treatment, Sodhi sprang into action. By sharing his story with friends and acquaintances made during his career in the technology sector, he was able to assemble a team of scientists, doctors, data scientists, AI experts and IT specialists, who together developed an AI-powered system capable of rapidly analyzing Maddie’s numerous test results and cross-referencing them with millions of scientific publications and existing patient data.

Their system uncovered critical but previously unknown details about Maddie's condition, which helped Maddie’s doctor quickly match her with the right specialists. At 13 months old, she underwent open heart surgery to correct her heart defect.

“We basically asked the AI a bunch of questions, just like you would a human doctor, and I took this information to the doctor saying, ‘This is what I found. How can this information help?’” said Sodhi. “Maddie’s doctor was shocked when he saw how much we were able to learn about Maddie’s condition this way, and it’s the reason we were able to fast-track the care she needed. ”

Shortly after Maddie’s surgery, Sodhi founded Maddie BioGenetics, or MaddieBio, a biotech startup with the goal of leveraging AI, robotics and gene editing technologies to create a platform that can help identify potential treatments for patients like Maddie with rare genetic conditions. Critically, for both patients and health care systems, MaddieBio’s approach could also make personalized medicine easily accessible and affordable to all.

“I’m not here to create a 3-million-dollar drug, or even a one-million-dollar drug,” said Sodhi. “I’m here to build an affordable solution to help people dealing with the rarest diseases get the treatment they need. How do we bring precision medicine to the masses? That’s the real gamechanger.”

UC San Diego: The Right Place at the Right Time

Not long after founding Maddie Bio in 2023, Sodhi and his family relocated to San Diego so he could network with the sizable regional biotech community and identify partners who could help advance his dream to scale MaddieBio for broad use and adoption throughout the health care community. He drives an Uber as a side-gig to support his family and help fund his dream to help others.

This hard work and commitment are paying off, as MaddieBio has made significant progress. In addition to further developing the AI platform itself, the company also has entered collaborations with several large health systems to implement the technology in a clinical setting, including Houston Methodist Hospital. 

Coming to San Diego also allowed Sodhi to access UC San Diego’s Talent Foundry, a support service for startups and entrepreneurs from historically underrepresented communities. The Talent Foundry helps connect aspiring entrepreneurs with the resources and people they need to transform bold ideas into societal impact.

“I have to give kudos to UC San Diego because I would never have met some of my strongest collaborators without the Talent Foundry,” he said “You can network like crazy, but if that networking isn’t focused and targeted, you won’t make it anywhere.” 

One of these collaborators is UC San Diego School of Medicine professor Alysson Muotri, Ph.D. Muotri is an expert in creating brain organoids, miniature versions of brains grown in petri dishes from stem cells. Sodhi hopes to license Muotri’s organoid technology to identify potential treatments and predict their efficacy much more quickly than is possible using traditional drug discovery approaches. This approach has the potential to revolutionize the way we develop new therapies and could lead to breakthroughs in the treatment of diseases such as Alzheimer's, cancer and autism. 

“We’ve been able to use this technology to find existing drugs that can help alleviate some of Maddie’s symptoms, particularly for her autism, and she’s improved dramatically.” said Sodhi. 

In the future Sodhi hopes to further strengthen his collaborations with UC San Diego, but for now his main focus is keeping up his current momentum with MaddieBio. 

“We could transform medicine,” he added. “Now it’s just a matter of everything falling into place.