Wyss InstituteFundamental Research – Wyss Institute

Wyss Institute technologies enable breakthrough in astronaut health research aboard NASA’s Artemis II mission

Jessica Leff — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 14:55:20 +0000

By Alexandra Jirstrand (BOSTON) – Launched on April 1, 2026, Artemis II is a historic, approximately 10-day lunar flyby mission that is sending four astronauts farther into space than any humans have traveled since the Apollo era, marking a critical step toward sustained lunar exploration and future missions to Mars. The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard…

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Toward autonomous self-organizing biological robots with a nervous system

Mariel Schoen — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:30:42 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Biobots, whose growing line of variants started with Xenobots, are fascinating tiny self-powered living robots built exclusively using frog embryonic cells. Originally developed in the laboratories of Wyss Institute Associate Faculty member and Tufts University Professor Michael Levin, Ph.D. and his collaborators at University of Vermont…

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When Matter Makes Decisions: Michael Levin on the Intelligence of Form

Jessica Leff — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 18:39:49 +0000

In this episode of Grow Everything, hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan have a conversation with Professor Michael Levin, Ph.D., Wyss Associate Faculty member and the Director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. He reveals how cells make decisions without brains, store memories without DNA, and navigate anatomical space like we navigate physical space. Discover how his team…

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20-ish Questions with Michael Levin

Jessica Leff — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 15:05:20 +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 Michael Levin, an Associate Faculty member of the Wyss Institute, as well as the Director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts and Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology, and a Distinguished Professor…

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Finding a Balance In Bipolar Disorder Through Drug Prediction and Organoid-Based Drug Screening

Jessica Leff — Wed, 07 May 2025 16:47:52 +0000

CircaVent is a high-throughput drug screening platform that combines predictive algorithms, preclinical models, and human brain organoids to efficiently identify and test drugs that could treat the underlying causes of bipolar disorder. CircaVent is initially focused on addressing the circadian rhythm disruptions that are a common hallmark of BD, and could dramatically speed up the process of…

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Wyss Institute launches Healthy Aging Fund with a gift from The Colossal Foundation

Jessica Leff — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 15:55:59 +0000

By Alexandra Jirstrand (BOSTON, MA and DALLAS, TX) – The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University is proud to announce the establishment of the Healthy Aging Fund, a transformative initiative aimed at unlocking the mysteries of aging. The Colossal Foundation has contributed $1.5 million to the Wyss Institute to launch this pioneering Fund…

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20-ish Questions with George Church

Jessica Leff — Wed, 22 Jan 2025 14:15:54 +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 George Church, a founding Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute and lead of the Synthetic Biology Focus Area. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University…

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The Dish Live with special guest George Church

Jessica Leff — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 15:24:53 +0000

In this very special live taping of “The Dish,” host Johannes Fruehauf sits down with renowned geneticist and Wyss Core Faculty member, George Church, Ph.D. Widely known for discovering the first direct genomic sequencing method, Church has reshaped the world of genetics. A professor at Harvard and MIT and a founding professor at the Wyss Institute, Church has co-founded over 50 startups—15+ of…

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Researchers call for global discussion about possible risks from “mirror bacteria”

Jessica Leff — Wed, 18 Dec 2024 14:27:15 +0000

A group of researchers including Wyss Core Faculty member George Church, Ph.D. has published new findings in Science on potential risks from the development of mirror bacteria — synthetic organisms in which all molecules have reversed chirality (i.e. are ‘mirrored’). Scientists had begun early work toward creating mirror bacteria, and while the capability is at least a decade away…

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SeqVerify: A New Easily Accessible Tool for Comprehensive Cell Line Quality Assessment – The Stem Cell Report

Jessica Leff — Thu, 12 Dec 2024 16:54:17 +0000

During the last decade, advances in genome editing and pluripotent stem cell (PSC) culture have let researchers generate edited PSC lines to study a wide variety of biological questions. However, abnormalities in cell lines such as aneuploidy, mutations, on-target and off-target editing errors, and microbial contamination can arise during PSC culture or due to undesired editing outcomes.

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