From the Director
We began the Institute's second year of operation last month with the exciting news of having signed collaboration agreements with four leading research and healthcare institutions in Boston: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston University, Children's Hospital Boston, and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. These agreements allow us to bring together faculty from all of these institutions at a common site to carry out high risk research and advance the Institute's mission. These strategic partnership agreements also solidify the commitment of these world-leading research institutions to collaborate in the field of biologically inspired engineering with a focus on translating new technologies into commercial products and therapies. In another major advance, we secured new research space for the Wyss Institute adjacent to the laboratories of existing Wyss core faculty members in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences on Harvard's Cambridge campus. As we continue to grow rapidly and to make major advances on all fronts -- administrative as well as scientific -- we greatly look forward to moving operations into this space, and into our major new facilities in the Center for Life Sciences Boston building on the Longwood campus that will open in April. The adventure continues...
- Don Ingber
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Build your own nano particles
The Wyss Institute has launched its first interactive feature: Molecular Origami. Intended for a lay audience, the feature allows you to build virtual nanostructures by defining the sequence of a simple, abstract representation of a DNA (or RNA) molecule and then allowing it to self assemble. You can build structures of your own design -- the dynamic nature of the feature allows for an endless number of design possibilities -- or you can build and modify pre-set shapes.
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Making cellular memories
In a Cell essay, Pamela Silver and Devin Burrill report on their work on cellular memories, describing the role of transcriptional regulation in both natural and synthetic memory networks. This breakthrough may facilitate the engineering of cells capable of recording stimulus exposure or maintaining desired levels of
gene expression over time. Download pdf...
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The genome generation
In this Newsweek article, George Church makes the case for having your genes sequenced. According to Church, the message is not "Here's your destiny. Get used to it!" Instead, it's "Here's your destiny, and you can do something about it!"
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Mutating bacteria and drug resistance
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria are a significant challenge to healthcare worldwide. Jim Collins and his lab report in Molecular Cell that treating bacteria with low-levels of antibiotics can lead to the formation of mutagenesis-inducing reactive oxygen species. As a result, mutant bacteria can emerge that are sensitive to the applied antibiotic but resistant to others. This has significant societal implications for the use and misuse of antibiotics.
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"Rebooting" cancer cells
In a collaboration between their laboratories at the Wyss and Broad Institutes, Don Ingber and Stuart Schrieber published in Nature Chemical Biology their success of "rebooting' cancerous muscle cells (rhabdomyosarcoma) and inducing muscle differentiation in cultured cells by altering expression of metabolic enzymes.
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Eugene Goldfield signs on as Associate Faculty
Eugene Goldfield, Assistant Professor in the Center for Behavioral Sciences at Children's Hospital Boston and Harvard Medical School, has been appointed as an Associate faculty member of the Wyss Institute. Goldfield is helping to lead the Programmable Second Skin project of the Institute's Anticipatory Medical Devices Platform. The project focuses on the development of an intelligent flexible orthotic that will potentially reprogram gait control in children with cerebral palsy.
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Kit Parker receives New England Achievement Award
U.S. Army major and Wyss Core faculty member, Kit Parker, was honored with the New England Achievement Award as part of National Engineers Week 2010. This award recognizes Parker's special contributions to the field of engineering and society. In his keynote speech, Kit acknowledged the contributions of his research team and gave credit to his fellow soldiers who served in Afghanistan.
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Pam Silver speaks at the British Foundation for Science and Technology
Pamela Silver spoke on "Synthetic Biology -- a threat or an opportunity" at the British Foundation for Science and Technology, which advises members of UK government funding agencies on science issues. The discussion was held at the British Royal Society of Science. View discussion summary...
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Felice Frankel joins Wyss as Visiting Scholar
World-recognized science photographer and artist, Felice Frankel, has been appointed as a Wyss Visiting Scholar. Frankel, who also holds concurrent appointments at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School's Systems Biology, and MIT, will collaborate with Wyss faculty, staff and students to enhance their ability to communicate scientific findings and insights visually, and she will organize workshops that focus on visual communications in science and engineering.
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Go to wyss.harvard.edu for more Institute news and updates.
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