Wyss InstituteMechanical Engineering – Wyss Institute

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…

Source

20-ish Questions with Ellen Roche

Jessica Leff — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:00:10 +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 Ellen Roche, an Associate Faculty member of the Wyss Institute as well as the Latham Family Career Development Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering and the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science…

Source

Prapela: from understanding infant breathing rhythms to treating newborn babies

Jessica Leff — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 17:50:12 +0000

Part of the Wyss Institute’s series on the positive, life-altering impact of federal research funding By Jessica Leff About half of premature infants suffer from sleep apnea, which involves pauses in their breathing. Apnea of prematurity can be life-threatening, as it lowers heart rates to dangerous levels, and can even be a risk factor for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). Conversely…

Source

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…

Source

Blood Clot Dx

admin — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 17:00:40 +0000

Blood clots can arise anywhere in the body, blocking blood flow and causing pain and other symptoms. The most serious types of clots, called deep vein thrombosis (DVT), typically form in the veins in the legs, and can break off and become lodged in a lung. This can cause a pulmonary embolism (PE), which is when blood flow to the lungs is prevented and can be fatal. The symptoms of PE resemble…

Source

Gozde Basara on Engineering Safer Solutions for Cancer Survivors

Jessica Leff — Wed, 20 Nov 2024 16:22:50 +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. Gozde Basara has never shied away from learning something new. From starting a Ph.D. in 3D Bioprinting as a mechanical engineer with no advanced knowledge of biology to taking on new artistic…

Source

Hani Sallum on Engineering Prototypes for Researchers, Patients, and the Planet

Jessica Leff — Wed, 30 Oct 2024 13:00:46 +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. Hani Sallum is always tinkering, whether he’s creating an eight-foot-tall robot costume to show off at a convention or designing a carbon dioxide-powered seawater collection system to…

Source

Human cervix modeled in microfluidic organ chip fills key women’s health gap

Jessica Leff — Fri, 31 May 2024 14:55:29 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Bacterial Vaginosis (BV) has been identified as one of the many unmet needs in women’s health and affects more than 25% of reproductive-aged women. It is caused by pathogenic bacteria that push the healthy microbiomes in the female vagina and cervix – the small gatekeeper canal that connects the uteruns and vagina – into a state of imbalance known as dysbiosis.

Source

Repairing patients’ dura more durably

Jessica Leff — Wed, 20 Mar 2024 17:55:14 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — The dural membrane (dura) is the outermost of three meningeal layers that line the central nervous system (CNS), which includes the brain and spinal cord. Together, the meninges function as a shock-absorber to protect the CNS against trauma, circulate nutrients throughout the CNS, as well as remove waste. The dura also is a critical biological barrier that…

Source

A new glue, potentially also for you

Jessica Leff — Tue, 20 Feb 2024 15:50:09 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Hydrogels are versatile biomaterials conquering an increasing number of biomedical areas. Consisting of water-swollen molecular networks that can be tailored to mimic the mechanical and chemical features of various organs and tissues, they can interface within the body and on its outer surfaces without causing any damage to even the most delicate parts of the…

Source