Wyss InstituteDiagnostics for Human and Planetary Health – Wyss Institute

KeepSmilin4Abbie Foundation to drive early detection and treatment of anaphylaxis

Mariel Schoen — Mon, 11 May 2026 12:25:25 +0000

1 in 20 American, or almost 20 million people, are at risk of anaphylaxis. The only treatment for an anaphylactic reaction is epinephrine. A reaction may escalate quickly with symptoms that can be variable and fast moving. Tragedy strikes when epinephrine treatment is not administered early in the reaction. The death of Abbie Benford illustrates this disastrous outcome. Due to the fast…

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Ultrasensitive test detects biomarkers for specific form of dementia

Mariel Schoen — Tue, 05 May 2026 13:55:08 +0000

By MGB Communications (BOSTON) — Dementia affects over 57 million people worldwide, a number expected to nearly double in the next 20 years. This permanent loss of cognitive abilities affects daily function and can be caused by multiple brain pathologies, including well known ones like Alzheimer’s disease (AD). Right now, biomarkers permit diagnosis of AD but not rarer pathologies like…

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Breaking barriers in brain health

Mariel Schoen — Wed, 18 Mar 2026 22:28:15 +0000

For decades, some of the most urgent challenges in brain health have resisted progress across both academia and the pharmaceutical industry. At the Wyss Institute, we are tackling them head-on. A central focus is overcoming one of the field’s biggest obstacles: delivering drugs effectively to the brain and central nervous system. Today, this process remains inefficient…

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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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Transforming cancer treatments through bioinspired engineering and translation

Jessica Leff — Wed, 04 Feb 2026 14:59:03 +0000

Despite major advances in personalized medicine, targeted drugs, and immunotherapies, many cancers remain difficult – or impossible – to treat. Even when therapies work, they can trigger serious secondary health risks that may themselves become life-threatening. Wyss Institute researchers are tackling these challenges head-on by developing new therapies that more powerfully activate the immune…

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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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Gina Wang on having the NERVE to detect ALS

Jessica Leff — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:00:19 +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. Gina Wang approaches baking the same way she approaches scientific experiments. She tracks different variables and eventually finds the optimal way to bake a chiffon cake or detect abnormal…

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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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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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Can We Stop Stabbing Babies? – Salivary Diagnostics for Sepsis Screening in the Neonate

Jessica Leff — Wed, 10 Sep 2025 20:51:39 +0000

Every day, across the neonatal care unit, babies are being stabbed to collect their blood for sepsis tests. Adding to this dismal situation, diagnostics developed to assess sepsis in blood are very inaccurate, leading to the unnecessary prescription of antibiotics. Researchers at the Wyss Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital have created a more accurate diagnostic platform using easily…

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