Wyss InstituteInfectious Disease – Wyss Institute

Recapitulating intramuscular vaccination with mRNA vaccines in patient-specific Lymphoid Organ Chips

Mariel Schoen — Fri, 17 Jul 2026 13:55:40 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — The protective abilities of the Moderna and BioNTech mRNA vaccines developed against COVID-19 saved millions of lives during the pandemic and put this platform technology in the spotlight of vaccine research. By now, mRNA vaccines for other infectious diseases, such as influenza, RSV, and HIV are being tested in clinical trials and highly anticipated.

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The Wyss Institute’s 2026-2027 Validation Projects

Jessica Leff — Mon, 06 Jul 2026 14:00:41 +0000

Each year, the Wyss Institute’s Validation Project program identifies technologies that are ready to move beyond discovery and into the validation phase. Through dedicated funding, technical resources, business development support, market research, and engagement with clinicians, investors, industry experts, and key opinion leaders, the program helps research teams de-risk high-impact innovations…

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Machine-learning how to overcome antibiotic-resistant gonorrhea

Jessica Leff — Wed, 17 Jun 2026 17:55:26 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — With tens of millions of annual cases, gonorrhea is the second most frequently reported sexually transmitted infection (STI). In the U.S. alone, over 600,000 cases are reported each year. If left untreated, gonorrhea can result in severe reproductive health issues, including infertility in both women and men, and pelvic inflammatory disease.

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Multidisciplinary Wyss team receives 2026 Lush Prize Science Award

Jessica Leff — Mon, 18 May 2026 18:30:48 +0000

(BOSTON) — The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University is proud to announce that the Biosensing, Microfluidics, and Microsystems team, led by Wyss Senior Engineer Adama Sesay, Ph.D., together with the Female Reproductive Health team, has received the 2026 Lush Science Prize. The prize recognizes their work developing next-generation, sensor-integrated human Organ…

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Materializing safe, on-demand living therapeutics

Jessica Leff — Thu, 14 May 2026 17:55:55 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Patient recovery from many debilitating conditions and diseases could be sped up significantly and be more effective if drugs and therapeutic molecules were delivered right to where they are needed in the body, over the entire regenerative process, and in doses finely tuned to therapeutic needs. An intriguing way to achieve this is the use of implantable…

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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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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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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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A CRISPR fingerprint of pathogenic C. auris fungi

Jessica Leff — Wed, 14 Jan 2026 13:45:36 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Infection with the pathogenic yeast fungus Candida auris (C. auris) can wreak havoc on the health of hospital patients and residents of nursing homes, especially those who are already weakened by other illnesses. The pathogen easily spreads and colonizes surfaces and objects where it can survive for weeks to months, and is often resistant to standard…

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Biomaterial vaccines to make implanted orthopedic devices safer

Jessica Leff — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 19:55:42 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Patients with implanted medical devices like orthopedic joint replacements, pacemakers, and artificial heart valves run a small but significant risk that these devices get infected with bacterial pathogens. This starts them on a burdensome path requiring “redo” (revision) surgeries, prolonged antibiotic treatments, or in severe cases amputation.

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