Wyss InstituteCancer – Wyss Institute

BeWonderNow brings hope to the fight against brain cancer

Mariel Schoen — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 16:00:42 +0000

In contrast to advances made in other types of cancer, brain cancer survival rates remain little-changed despite years of research. Only a handful of treatments have been approved for the more than 100 types of brain tumors, none of which extend survival more than two years on average or are considered to be curative. Surgical removal and radiation remain the standard of care for many brain tumors…

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Namrata Ramani on sculpting the future of delivering novel cancer therapeutics

Jessica Leff — Fri, 27 Feb 2026 18:32:49 +0000

The Humans of the Wyss (HOW) series features members of the Wyss community discussing their work, the influences that shape them as professionals, and their collaborations at the Wyss Institute and beyond. What do pottery and materials science have in common? Namrata Ramani used to think they were worlds apart. Then, as she honed her skills on the wheel and at the bench, she realized there are…

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Transforming cancer treatments through bioinspired engineering and translation

Jessica Leff — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:59:03 +0000

Despite major advances in personalized medicine, targeted drugs, and immunotherapies, many cancers remain difficult – or impossible – to treat. Even when therapies work, they can trigger serious secondary health risks that may themselves become life-threatening. Wyss Institute researchers are tackling these challenges head-on by developing new therapies that more powerfully activate the immune…

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20-ish Questions with David J. Mooney

Jessica Leff — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 13:41:58 +0000

20-ish Questions shows a different side of Wyss Institute faculty, touching on aspects of their personal life, hobbies, interests, as well as their research. This round follows David J. Mooney, a Founding Core Faculty member and Lead of the Immuno-Materials platform at the Wyss Institute. He is also the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering at the Harvard John A.

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First-in-human clinical trial of personalized, biomaterial-based cancer vaccine demonstrates feasibility, safety, and immune activation

Jessica Leff — Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:11:46 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — The first-in-human phase I clinical trial assessing the feasibility and safety of WDVAX, an immunostimulatory biomaterial-based cancer vaccine, in a cohort of 21 patients with stage 4 metastatic melanoma, was concluded with positive outcomes that encourage future vaccine developments and trials to test them in combination with immune checkpoint inhibitor…

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Organs on Chips: Using Science, Art, and Design to Understand the Human Body – Talking About Blood

Jessica Leff — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 18:41:34 +0000

In this episode, Wyss Founding Director Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., talks with Helen Osborne about: How organ-on-chip and “human body on chips” technologies are built and how they realistically mimic human organ function by combining living cells, blood flow, and mechanical forces like breathing and stretch; The implications of these chips for hematology and clinical care…

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Beating cancer cells at their own game by stepping on their cGAS

Jessica Leff — Wed, 12 Nov 2025 17:30:44 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Cancer cells develop various strategies to paralyze immune cells to evade their attack in the complex tumor microenvironment (TME). Using one such strategy, they cripple their own production of a small signaling molecule known as cGAMP, which, if released into the TME, can be taken up by immune cells that then build up a first line of defense against cancer…

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Crossing the barrier: Wyss Brain Targeting Program is delivering on its promise

Seth Kroll — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 13:18:46 +0000

By Seth Kroll (BOSTON) — Launched in 2019 as an ambitious idea, the Wyss Brain Targeting Program was designed to address a critical challenge in neuroscience and brain health: how to safely and effectively deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The BBB is a tightly regulated gateway that protects the brain from toxins and pathogens but also prevents nearly all large-molecule drugs…

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Charles Park named 2025 STAT Wunderkind

Seth Kroll — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 18:57:05 +0000

By Seth Kroll (BOSTON) — The Wyss Institute is proud to announce that Charles Park, Ph.D., a postdoctoral researcher in the Wyss’ Immuno-Materials Platform with Wyss Core Faculty member Samir Mitagotri, Ph.D., has been named a 2025 STAT Wunderkind by STAT News. The STAT Wunderkinds are annual awards that honor early-career scientists whose creativity and perseverance are helping to reshape…

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The Wyss Institute’s 2025-2026 Validation Projects

Jessica Leff — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 15:00:53 +0000

Throughout recent years, the Wyss’ Validation Project mechanism has proven to be a highly valuable instrument for selecting and kick-starting projects with early potential for positive impact on healthcare and the environment. Reaching deep into areas with major unmet needs across the diverse Grand Challenges laid out by the Institute, the newly selected projects are driven by multi-talented teams…

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