Wyss InstituteKidney Disease – Wyss Institute

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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eGenesis: from new genome engineering techniques to solving the organ donor shortage

Jessica Leff — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 17:50:29 +0000

Part of the Wyss Institute’s series on the positive, life-altering impact of federal research funding By Jessica Leff Nearly 90,000 people in the United States are waiting for a kidney transplant, and 11 people die every day while waiting for a kidney. Government funding for synthetic biology and gene therapy enabled the development of genome engineering technology that is used by a Wyss…

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How federal funds fuel life-saving innovation

Jessica Leff — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 17:49:40 +0000

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George Church on Widespread Genomic Sequencing, Xenotransplantation, and Shepherding Change

Jessica Leff — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 20:46:55 +0000

In this interview, GenomeWeb speaks to Core Faculty member George Church, Ph.D., who is also a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. A thinker, inventor, and collaborator extraordinaire, Church’s technologies and personality catalyzed the Human Genome Project, the Personal Genome Project, and more than 50 biotech startups…

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Innovative tissue engineering: ESCAPE, a pioneering new method explained

Jessica Leff — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 16:00:31 +0000

By Boston University Communications (BOSTON) — When it comes to the human body, form and function work together. The shape and structure of our hands enable us to hold and manipulate things. Tiny air sacs in our lungs called alveoli allow for air exchange and help us breath in and out. And tree-like blood vessels branch throughout our body, delivering oxygen from our head to our toes.

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ESCAPE Bioengineering

Jessica Leff — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 16:00:06 +0000

A research team at the Wyss Institute and Boston University has developed ESCAPE, the first method that enables the engineering of tissues across multiple length scales, ranging from the diameter of a cell to the cm scale of a heart valve. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University…

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CRISPR’s Impact, Today

Mariel Schoen — Mon, 21 Oct 2024 12:00:08 +0000

By Seth Kroll (BOSTON) — In the not-so-distant past, CRISPR, the revolutionary gene-editing technology, was discovered as a defense system protecting bacteria against viruses. Today, with the persistence and ingenuity of many scientists, it is no longer just the subject of fascinating academic research papers and speculative discussions on its future usefulness for medicine.

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Wyss Institute promotes Natalie Artzi to its Core Faculty and appoints Di Feng as an Associate Faculty member

Jessica Leff — Mon, 12 Aug 2024 13:15:25 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Natalie Artzi, Ph.D., joined the ranks of the Wyss Institute’s now 12 Core Faculty members after only two years as an Associate Faculty member. Artzi’s promotion reflects her exceptional commitment to the Institute’s mission and the deep engagements and collaborations she has initiated within its technology development community. The Wyss Institute also warmly…

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Alex Plesa on Reversing Aging

Jessica Leff — Thu, 30 May 2024 13:00:18 +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. Most people believe that declining health as we age is an unfortunate, inevitable fact of life – but not Alex Plesa. He thinks the reason we think we can’t change it is because we don’t…

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In a first, genetically edited pig kidney is transplanted into human

Mariel Schoen — Fri, 22 Mar 2024 21:16:08 +0000

By Mass General Brigham Communications In a first-of-its-kind medical procedure, Harvard Medical School physician-scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital have transplanted a genetically edited pig kidney into a human. While many unknowns remain about the viability of the newly transplanted organ and the patient’s long-term health, the procedure — made possible in part by scientific…

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