Wyss InstituteBiotechnology – Wyss Institute

Tooling up to diagnose ocean health

Jessica Leff — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 14:55:24 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Oceanic ecosystems are increasingly threatened by global warming, which causes coral bleaching, species migration, and, through the loss of habitats and biodiversity, food web disruptions on major scales. Also, pollutants such as plastics and other marine debris, wastewater, and chemical runoffs, including oil spills, cause major ecosystem disruptions.

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Wyss Institute-led collaboration awarded by ARPA-H PRINT program to engineer off-the-shelf, universal, transplant-ready graft for liver failure

Jessica Leff — Fri, 16 Jan 2026 14:55:47 +0000

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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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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How federal funds fuel life-saving innovation

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

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Sustainable Futures: creating a healthy planet for all

Jessica Leff — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 14:22:07 +0000

By Seth Kroll The planet’s health directly impacts human health. Plastic pollution, unsustainable manufacturing, and carbon-intensive material production are accelerating a planetary crisis that demands urgent solutions. At the Wyss Institute, our Sustainable Futures Initiative is tackling this Grand Challenge by re-designing the systems we rely on, from farming to materials and manufacturing…

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PFASense: Fast, In-Field Testing for Forever Chemicals

Jessica Leff — Wed, 08 Oct 2025 13:53:50 +0000

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a class of “forever chemicals,” are synthetic compounds that have been used since the 1940s to manufacture products like nonstick cookware, firefighting foams, food packaging, and many more. While they have helpful properties, PFAS do not readily degrade in the environment or the human body. As a result, they have accumulated in drinking water, soil…

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20-ish Questions with David Walt

Jessica Leff — Fri, 26 Sep 2025 12:20:46 +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 David Walt, a Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute as well as the Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard Medical School, a Professor of Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital…

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Namita Sarraf on Using DNA as a Building Block

Jessica Leff — Thu, 18 Sep 2025 15:26:34 +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. Namita Sarraf loves to find herself at intersections, whether it’s pursuing a Ph.D. at the nexus of bioengineering and computer science or hosting a “Diwali-sgiving” dinner party to…

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Simon D’Oelsnitz on Building a Sensitive, Specific PFAS Sensor

Jessica Leff — Thu, 28 Aug 2025 13:00:19 +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. Simon D’Oelsnitz always keeps the potential applications of his science at the top of mind. When he studied pharmacology, he thought about the customers he worked with as a pharmacy…

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COPDx: Rapid diagnostic to triage acute exacerbations

Seth Kroll — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 19:12:25 +0000

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects 15.9 million U.S. adults, and costs $49 billion annually to treat and manage. When COPD patients are exposed to lung irritants like viral or bacterial infections, air pollution, or smoke, it can trigger an acute exacerbation (AE), in which their symptoms quickly become more severe. AE is the leading cause of mortality and emergency hospital…

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