Wyss InstituteGenetics – Wyss Institute

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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Wyss Institute appoints three new Associate Faculty members: Ahmad Khalil, Jarad Mason, and Ting Wu

Jessica Leff — Mon, 08 Dec 2025 14:50:20 +0000

By Jessica Leff The Wyss Institute is proud to welcome three new Associate Faculty members: Ahmad (Mo) Khalil, Ph.D., Jarad Mason, Ph.D., and Chao-ting (Ting) Wu, Ph.D. Each has a history of collaborating with the Institute’s researchers. Their diverse expertise and fresh perspectives will further strengthen the Wyss’ innovative and collaborative ecosystem and enable pioneering advances in…

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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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Highly Cited Researchers 2025 honors nine Wyss members

Jessica Leff — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 18:50:51 +0000

By Alexandra Jirstrand (BOSTON) – Clarivate Analytics announced its Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list, which honors the top 1% of researchers around the world whose papers have been cited the most over the last decade. Clarivate uses both quantitative and qualitative analyses to identify individuals who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their chosen field(s) of research.

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Recapitulating egg and sperm development in the dish

Jessica Leff — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 17:55:46 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — More than one-sixth of adults around the world experience infertility in their lifetime. There is a high unmet need not only for increased access to affordable, high-quality fertility care for those in need but, importantly, also for new biomedical solutions that can address the root causes of infertility. Some of the earliest causes of infertility go back to…

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The Wyss Institute’s 2025-2026 Validation Projects

Jessica Leff — Thu, 14 Aug 2025 15:00:53 +0000

Throughout recent years, the Wyss’ Validation Project mechanism has proven to be a highly valuable instrument for selecting and kick-starting projects with early potential for positive impact on healthcare and the environment. Reaching deep into areas with major unmet needs across the diverse Grand Challenges laid out by the Institute, the newly selected projects are driven by multi-talented teams…

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George Church: Embracing Outliers in Science and in Life

Jessica Leff — Fri, 25 Jul 2025 13:38:53 +0000

George Church, Ph.D., is a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute and a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School. He is a pioneer in synthetic biology and personalized genomics. In 2017, Time magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In addition to being a scientist, Church is also a prolific serial entrepreneur. He has co-founded over 50 biotech startups…

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Forging a novel therapeutic path for patients with Rett Syndrome using AI

Jessica Leff — Wed, 02 Jul 2025 13:55:03 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Rett syndrome is a devastating, rare genetic childhood disorder primarily affecting girls. Merely 1 out of 10,000 girls are born with it, and much fewer boys. It is caused by mutations in the MeCP2 gene on the X chromosome, leading to a spectrum of cognitive and physical impairments, including repetitive hand motions, speech difficulties, and seizures. However…

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Toward recreating the brain’s immune system in a dish

Jessica Leff — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 13:55:59 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Microglia are a specialized type of immune cells that accounts for about 10% of all cells within the brain and spinal cord. They function by eliminating infectious microbes, dead cells, and aggregated proteins, as well as soluble antigens that may endanger the brain and, during development, also help shape neural circuits enabling specific brain functions.

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