Wyss InstituteLiver Disease – Wyss Institute https://wyss.harvard.edu Wyss Institute at Harvard Thu, 30 Apr 2026 13:29:34 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.1 Growing liver tissue on demand directly in the body https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/growing-liver-tissue-on-demand-directly-in-the-body/ Fri, 17 Apr 2026 17:55:10 +0000 https://wyss.harvard.edu/?p=45268 New study combines tissue engineering with synthetic biology tools to grow healthy liver tissue inside the body, and lays foundation for “smart” solid organ therapies By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — In patients developing end-stage liver disease, the damage has become too severe for the liver’s normally extraordinary regenerative capacity to repair or compensate for it. Once this “point of no return” has been reached, the only option is an organ transplant. However, getting a liver transplant is extremely difficult due to high demand and limited supply…

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]]> https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/growing-liver-tissue-on-demand-directly-in-the-body/ Patients who develop end-stage liver disease have liver damage that has become too severe for the organ’s normally extraordinary regenerative capacity to repair or compensate for. From then on, their only option is an organ transplant. To help bridge the time until a donor organ becomes available, a Wyss-Boston University-MIT research team has innovated the “BOOST” strategy, which they demonstrated allows on-demand healthy liver growth of genetically engineered tissue constructs upon their implantation. Credit: Envato Elements/ drazenphoto https://wyss-prod.imgix.net/app/uploads/2026/04/14170323/happy-senior-patient-talking-to-his-daughter-who-i-2026-03-16-03-27-50-utc-scaled.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=crop&h=400&q=50&w=300&s=7d97cd936c84704ed7ffa9579f52afcf"/> Wyss Institute-led collaboration awarded by ARPA-H PRINT program to engineer off-the-shelf, universal, transplant-ready graft for liver failure https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/wyss-institute-led-collaboration-awarded-by-arpa-h-print-program-to-engineer-off-the-shelf-universal-transplant-ready-graft-for-liver-failure/ Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:55:47 +0000 https://wyss.harvard.edu/?p=44566 Highly multidisciplinary, multi-institutional team of world-leading experts to build technological foundation for liver transplants that could save thousands of patients By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — The majority of human illnesses are caused by damage to a single organ, like the liver, whose failure accounts for 2M deaths worldwide every year. Orthotopic transplants are the only curative therapy available, but the severe shortage of donor organs, which are reserved for the most severe cases, leaves millions of patients without an accessible solution.

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]]> https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/wyss-institute-led-collaboration-awarded-by-arpa-h-print-program-to-engineer-off-the-shelf-universal-transplant-ready-graft-for-liver-failure/ To address liver failure in many of over 500M patients worldwide, the highly collaborative ImPLANT project funded by the ARPA-H Personalized Regenerative Immunocompetent Nanotechnology Tissue (PRINT) program, world-leading researchers from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, MIT, University of Colorado Boulder, and Columbia University join their expertise to create the multidisciplinary technological framework for building the first off-the-shelf engineered graft. Credit: Gerain0812/Envato https://wyss-prod.imgix.net/app/uploads/2026/01/13141545/Team-of-surgeons-scaled.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=crop&h=400&q=50&w=300&s=40a3e07721c1778ee52413e6e5c8b98c"/> eGenesis: from new genome engineering techniques to solving the organ donor shortage https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/egenesis-from-new-genome-engineering-techniques-to-solving-the-organ-donor-shortage/ Thu, 20 Nov 2025 17:50:29 +0000 https://wyss.harvard.edu/?p=44202 A federal grant allowed researchers to develop CRISPR as a tool for gene editing, which eventually led to the ability to genetically modify pig kidneys for safe transplant into humans 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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]]> https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/egenesis-from-new-genome-engineering-techniques-to-solving-the-organ-donor-shortage/ Co-founded by George Church, Ph.D., and former HMS doctoral student Luhan Yang, Ph.D., eGenesis will use CRISPR genome engineering technology in pigs to create organs that can be used as compatible xenotransplants in human patients. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University https://wyss-prod.imgix.net/app/uploads/2018/05/30120020/Cas9-pigChromosome-brighter.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=crop&h=400&q=50&w=300&s=87e4a6f2a1f8ed845f93852cbb403523"/> George Church on Widespread Genomic Sequencing, Xenotransplantation, and Shepherding Change https://wyss.harvard.edu/media-post/george-church-on-widespread-genomic-sequencing-xenotransplantation-and-shepherding-change/ Mon, 17 Nov 2025 20:46:55 +0000 https://wyss.harvard.edu/?post_type=media_post&p=44304 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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]]> https://wyss.harvard.edu/media-post/george-church-on-widespread-genomic-sequencing-xenotransplantation-and-shepherding-change/ George Church https://wyss-prod.imgix.net/app/uploads/2016/08/05095301/George_Church_headshot_1500x1000.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=crop&h=400&q=50&w=300&s=57b357a30a9a206e8ff5c6444955b65e"/> Innovative tissue engineering: ESCAPE, a pioneering new method explained https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/innovative-tissue-engineering-escape-a-pioneering-new-method-explained/ Wed, 11 Dec 2024 16:00:31 +0000 https://wyss.harvard.edu/?p=41664 Molding complex tissues using gallium 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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]]> https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/innovative-tissue-engineering-escape-a-pioneering-new-method-explained/ https://wyss-prod.imgix.net/app/uploads/2024/12/10165502/12_Cast-with-ring_CROP.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=crop&h=400&q=50&w=300&s=56126329a67c6ebeeec08c16a696b065"/> ESCAPE Bioengineering https://wyss.harvard.edu/media-post/escape-bioengineering/ Wed, 11 Dec 2024 16:00:06 +0000 https://wyss.harvard.edu/?post_type=media_post&p=41676 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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]]> https://wyss.harvard.edu/media-post/escape-bioengineering/ https://wyss-prod.imgix.net/app/uploads/2024/12/11082233/THUMBNAIL_Escape-Bioengineering_No-Text.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=crop&h=400&q=50&w=300&s=ece776924fe543fcdff749d41fe1f797"/> Alex Plesa on Reversing Aging https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/humans-of-the-wyss-alex-plesa-on-reversing-aging/ Thu, 30 May 2024 13:00:18 +0000 https://wyss.harvard.edu/?p=40026 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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]]> https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/humans-of-the-wyss-alex-plesa-on-reversing-aging/ Alex Plesa, Postdoctoral Fellow. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University https://wyss-prod.imgix.net/app/uploads/2024/05/28094559/Alex-Plesa-07200.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=crop&h=400&q=50&w=300&s=0cb4d901492f96d84b4ab65e30d6160e"/> Sangeeta Bhatia appointed as a Foreign Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/sangeeta-bhatia-appointed-as-a-foreign-fellow-of-the-australian-academy-of-technological-sciences-and-engineering/ Mon, 16 Oct 2023 14:58:00 +0000 https://wyss.harvard.edu/?p=37932 Bhatia is the only non-Australian Fellow elected in this year’s cohort (BOSTON) – A Nobel prize laureate, leaders tackling the Aussie engineering shortage, climate change innovators, research translation superstars, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander STEM education champions are among the distinguished cohort of Fellows elected to the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) this year. The 2023 new ATSE Fellows have been chosen for…

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]]> https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/sangeeta-bhatia-appointed-as-a-foreign-fellow-of-the-australian-academy-of-technological-sciences-and-engineering/ Sangeeta Bhatia envisions a future in which synthetic biomarkers can be used to noninvasively monitor the body for a variety of illnesses. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University https://wyss-prod.imgix.net/app/uploads/2019/09/25162054/2019.09.20SymposiumN3KL5525.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=crop&h=400&q=50&w=300&s=942f9316629039509403b5e14908f6ee"/> How do we make safer and more effective drugs? https://wyss.harvard.edu/media-post/how-do-we-make-safer-and-more-effective-drugs/ Mon, 12 Jun 2023 15:14:20 +0000 https://wyss.harvard.edu/?post_type=media_post&p=37038 Wyss researchers are using an ever-growing number of human tissue-mimicking Organ Chips to improve and accelerate the drug development process for a wide number of unmet diseases – and understand what causes them to erupt. More recently, they added a human Vagina Chip and personalized Barrett’s esophagus Chip to their arsenal, and created in vitro models of inflammatory bowel disease in children…

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]]> https://wyss.harvard.edu/media-post/how-do-we-make-safer-and-more-effective-drugs/ https://wyss-prod.imgix.net/app/uploads/2023/06/12111233/Sasan-Firoozinezhad-Lush-Prize-9738.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=crop&h=400&q=50&w=300&s=ea03cf6110706cab9b7935c8c6dce632"/> From classmates to co-founders https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/from-classmates-to-co-founders/ Mon, 24 Apr 2023 13:30:17 +0000 https://wyss.harvard.edu/?p=36515 Sangeeta Bhatia and Chris Chen, Wyss faculty members and friends since graduate school, are about to launch their second startup company Wyss Associate Faculty members Chris Chen and Sangeeta Bhatia are long-time friends and colleagues. They met as graduate students in the Harvard–MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology, got their M.D.s together at Harvard Medical School, and collaborated on projects once they started their own labs – Chen working on angiogenesis at the Johns Hopkins University and Bhatia working on liver…

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]]> https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/from-classmates-to-co-founders/ Sangeeta and Chris discuss the future of diagnostics and imaging at the Wyss Institute's Visionary Solutions Summit in 2022. https://wyss-prod.imgix.net/app/uploads/2023/04/14165539/2022.05.20-Visionary-Solutions-Summit-N3KL0846.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&crop=faces%2Centropy&fit=crop&h=400&q=50&w=300&s=5d612e4ebc0b6a7880096a36914c9ba7"/>