Wyss InstituteDrug Development – Wyss Institute

David Chou on keeping people safe from radiation on Earth and beyond

Jessica Leff — Thu, 28 May 2026 13:00:27 +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. David Chou’s work is literally out of this world! In addition to identifying radiation countermeasures for use on Earth, he is part of the AVATAR project, which aims to understand how humans…

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Destigmatizing mental health and democratizing brain-related research

Jessica Leff — Wed, 27 May 2026 13:50:06 +0000

By Jessica Leff More than one in five U.S. adults experience mental illness each year, but in 2024, only 52.1% of them received treatment. One reason people are reluctant to seek help is because of the stigma surrounding mental health. Often, that stigma comes from a lack of understanding and fear. Unfortunately, stigma doesn’t only impact those with mental illnesses, but it also affects…

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Next-Gen Toxicology: Inside the Organ Chip Revolution with Donald Ingber

Jessica Leff — Wed, 06 May 2026 17:06:35 +0000

In this episode of ToxChats, hosts Lauren Walker and Sarah Benjamin sit down with the groundbreaking Donald Ingber—visionary scientist, engineer, and Founding Director of the Wyss Institute. Ingber shares how his unique path through medicine, biology, and design converged to spark breakthroughs such as human Organ Chips—systems that are redefining toxicology, drug development, and disease modeling.

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Cure ALD – Behind the Research | Alex LeNail – Safer Gene Therapy

Jessica Leff — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:26:58 +0000

Learn about Wyss Postdoctoral Fellow Alex LeNail‘s background and how he plans to develop a safer gene therapy for ALD (adrenoleukodystrophy) patients. If successful, this could go to clinical trials and give families hope for a cure. This video series tells the story of the scientists behind the breakthroughs, and why community-driven fundraising is the engine behind their discoveries. …

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Breaking barriers in brain health

Mariel Schoen — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 22:28:15 +0000

For decades, some of the most urgent challenges in brain health have resisted progress across both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. At the Wyss Institute, we are tackling them head-on. A central focus is overcoming one of the field’s biggest obstacles: delivering drugs effectively to the brain and central nervous system. Today, this process remains inefficient…

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James Collins: Doing Good Science with an Underdog Spirit – The Pulse Podcast

Jessica Leff — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 17:11:57 +0000

James J. Collins is a founding Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute and the Termeer Professor of Medical Engineering & Science and Professor of Biological Engineering at MIT. Jim serves as a director at the MIT Jameel Clinic, a member of the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences & Technology Faculty, and a member of the Broad Institute. Jim is also an elected member of all three national academies.

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Nucleic Acid Delivery Consortium

Mariel Schoen — Fri, 13 Mar 2026 15:13:09 +0000

Nucleic acid therapies are emerging as a revolutionary class of medicines. Using engineered DNA or RNA molecules, they treat diseases at their genetic source, thus offering potential cures for a large variety of disorders, ranging from genetic disorders to cancers and infectious diseases. Different technologies, including mRNA, short interfering RNAs (siRNA), antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs)…

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Building protection against infectious diseases with nanostructured vaccines

Mariel Schoen — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:56:44 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — The COVID-19 pandemic brought messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to the forefront of global health care. After their clinical trial stages, the first COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was administered on 8 December 2020 and mathematical models suggest that mRNA vaccines prevented at least 14.4 million deaths from COVID-19 in the first year alone.

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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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Toward engineering a human kidney collecting duct system

Jessica Leff — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 14:50:56 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — The human kidney filters about a cup of blood every minute, removing waste, excess fluid, and toxins from it, while also regulating blood pressure, balancing important electrolytes, activating Vitamin D, and helping the body produce red blood cells. This broad range of functions is achieved in part via the kidney’s complex organization. In its outer region…

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