From gaining international research experience in Germany to developing her own biotechnology venture, Maanvi Malik has embraced opportunities to learn, grow and make an impact throughout her time at McMaster University. A graduate of the W Booth School’s Bachelor of Technology (BTech) Biotechnology program and Master of Biomanufacturing and Industrial Biotechnology program, Maanvi is now beginning a new chapter in Germany, working as a cell biologist at MICROMUN Institute for Microbiological Research.
Along the way, she has received the prestigious DAAD RISE Germany Scholarship, developed ArthroRoot, an innovative solution for arthritis sufferers, and dedicated her time to mentoring young women in STEM.
In this Q&A, Maanvi reflects on her journey, the experiences that shaped her time at W Booth School and the lessons she hopes to pass on to future students.
What first brought you to McMaster and the BTech Biotechnology program?
I did not apply to biotechnology because I knew exactly what I wanted. I could not pinpoint the exact reason I wanted it. The BTech Biotechnology program was unique in a way that provided me with an opportunity for a mandatory co-op along with a business side. The program stood out among the rest. It was not only biology, and it was not only engineering. It asked us to learn the science and also the human side of it, how to work with others, how to make decisions, how to take what we know into the world. I did not have a direction when I arrived. I just knew I wanted an education in science and I had a good feeling about biotechnology. That is what brought me here.
You’ve said that your time at McMaster “transformed me in every way possible.” What did that transformation look like for you?
I came in as a student who was shy, took up very little space. I cared deeply. I just did not yet know how to trust that what I had was enough. The transformation was not a single moment. It was a slow widening. Course by course, presentation by presentation, co-op by co-op, conversation by conversation, I became someone who could walk into a room I had never been in before and find my footing. I learned to speak when I had something to say. I learned that confidence is not something you wait to feel. It is something you practise, by constantly stepping out of your comfort zone, saying yes to things that scare you. W Booth School did not just make me a better student, it changed how I saw myself. I arrived hoping to learn biotechnology – I left knowing I could take that knowledge and build with it, lead with it, and use it to help people. That is what I meant by every way possible. I owe it to everyone I met during that part of my journey at McMaster.
What were some of the experiences or opportunities at McMaster that had the biggest impact on your journey?
The co-op terms, the extensive labs and capstone played the biggest impact in slowly shaping my career journey. Working in biotechnology and pharmaceutical settings showed me what the classroom learnings were for. I could feel the difference between knowing something and being trusted to do it. The GENTECH courses stayed with me more than I expected, they taught me that technical skill is only the beginning. The harder work is learning how to think about people, decisions, and responsibility. Then there was my research internship in Germany, through DAAD RISE, and later Startup Survivor, through The Forge. Those were the moments where Biotechnology stopped being a program I was completing and became a foundation I was standing on. And alongside all of that were fall preview open houses, conversations with professors who kept seeing more in me than I saw in myself, and the chance to stay on for my master’s in Biomanufacturing and Industrial Biotechnology.
Tell me about your experience receiving the DAAD RISE Germany Scholarship and conducting research in Germany. What did you take away from it?
DAAD RISE is a prestigious scholarship that pairs top students from North America, the UK, and Ireland with doctoral students in Germany to gain research experience. I was going far away from home, into a language and a research culture I did not yet know, and to prove I could belong there. The research itself, bioprocess work at RPTU taught me a great deal, applying concepts from my bioprocess course. What I took away was larger than the lab. I learned that I could enter an unfamiliar room, feel unsure, and still figure it out. I came back with more than research experience. I came back with a quieter kind of confidence, the knowledge that I do not need everything to feel familiar in order to do meaningful work. That lesson has followed me ever since. It is part of why I could start a company. It is part of why I am returning to Germany now to begin my career. The first time I went, I was still discovering my footing. This time, I am going to use it to do meaningful work.
What inspired you to create ArthroRoot, and how has your experience at McMaster helped you develop the venture?
ArthroRoot began with my grandmother. In grade 10, I stood in her doorway during a rheumatoid arthritis flare and watched her try to get out of bed, taking painkillers that still left her in pain. There was nothing I could do. She later passed away from complications of those medications. Years later, my mother was diagnosed with the same disease. The helplessness came back. This time I wanted to build what I wish had existed for her. ArthroRoot is a self-activating patch for arthritis flares something you can apply before your hands lock, so relief does not depend on being able to open a bottle in the worst moment. McMaster is why that grief became a venture instead of only a wish. Biotechnology gave me the science. The management and entrepreneurship courses gave me the skills to build. I learned to listen to patients, test assumptions, and explain a technical idea to people outside my field. The Forge’s Startup Survivor program then asked me to take all of that into the world. I was selected as one of the Top 20 ventures and received seed funding to keep going. McMaster did not hand me a company. It gave me the education, the support from my professors, and the courage to try.
You’ve been very involved in mentoring, STEM outreach and volunteering with BTech. Why has giving back been important to you?
Giving back and representing BTech means the most to me because I see myself in the students with timid yet excited eyes, waiting to find their space in the new rooms. I describe myself as an unofficial ambassador of BTech, I used to find myself talking about BTech proudly to young girls at family get-togethers and one of them is now in her first year BTech Biotechnology. I volunteered at Open Houses because I wanted a younger student, or a parent standing beside them, to feel less alone in the decision I once had to make. Through Girls SySTEM Mentorship, I have spent time with girls who are still deciding whether STEM is for them. I was not this driven or this confident in high school. Being with them reminds me that someone has to hold the door open for the next generation. Giving back has felt like completing the circle. I received an education that changed me. The least I can do is help someone else believe that it is possible for them too. If a student leaves a conversation thinking, maybe I belong here, that is what makes me the most happy.
Now that you’ve completed your master’s and are returning to Germany to begin your career, what’s next, and what advice would you give to students beginning their own journey?
Next, I am returning to Germany to begin my career at MICROMUN Institute for Microbiological Research, working as a cell biologist and contributing on innovative biotechnological projects. It feels like a full-circle moment. ArthroRoot continues as well. I am taking both with me, the science, and the responsibility to use it. If I could offer one piece of advice to students just beginning BTech it would be: do not wait until you feel ready. The version of you that belongs here is not waiting at the end of the degree. You are built in the uncomfortable middle in the course that stretches you, the co-op that scares you a little, the opportunity you almost talk yourself out of. Follow the things that make your stomach flutter. Follow the butterflies, they are not trying to stop you, they are cheering you on. Say yes before you have the whole path mapped out. Find people who see you clearly, be by your side no matter what, including professors who will tell you the truth and still stand in your corner. And when this place starts to change you, let it. Then turn around and make it easier for the person coming after you.W Booth gave me an education. More than that, it made me who I am today. I hope every student who starts here gets the chance to experience that.