Wyss InstituteMolecular Robotics – Wyss Institute

Building protection against infectious diseases with nanostructured vaccines

Mariel Schoen — Wed, 11 Mar 2026 12:56:44 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — The COVID-19 pandemic brought messenger RNA (mRNA) vaccines to the forefront of global health care. After their clinical trial stages, the first COVID-19 mRNA vaccine was administered on 8 December 2020 and mathematical models suggest that mRNA vaccines prevented at least 14.4 million deaths from COVID-19 in the first year alone.

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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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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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Anastasia Ershova on Designing and Building with RNA and DNA

Jessica Leff — Tue, 29 Jul 2025 13:52:34 +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. Anastasia Ershova loves fencing because every opponent is a new puzzle to solve, and both fencers are constantly engaged, making adjustments based on each other’s actions. The same could be…

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DNA Nanoswitch Calipers for Single-Molecule Proteomics

Jessica Leff — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 16:48:31 +0000

Proteins are well known as essential orchestrators of life, but what is less well-understood is their post-translational modifications (PTMs). These modifications can include the attachment of chemical groups, carbohydrates, or lipids to the proteins, which affect their folding, stability, and functions. Certain protein PTMs have been linked to diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative disease…

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DoriNano – Improved DNA Origami Nanodelivery to Fight Cancer and Other Diseases

Jessica Leff — Fri, 04 Oct 2024 18:20:45 +0000

We’re developing DNA Origami nanodelivery, which is transforming nanoparticle industry. Developed at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, this innovative approach overcomes the challenges of other nanoparticles, offering stability, high drug loading capacity, nano-scale control of cargo spacing, and more – making it a highly customizable solution for…

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Deep-dive Molecular Blueprinting of Therapeutic Nanostructures | Anastasia Ershova

Jessica Leff — Fri, 09 Aug 2024 13:29:50 +0000

Anastasia Ershova, a scientist at the Wyss, introduces the innovative field of bionanotechnology. In this talk from LabWeek Field Building, she explores how this cutting-edge science is revolutionizing therapeutics and diagnostics by building molecules that interact with the body in novel ways. Ershova discusses DNA nanotechnology, where DNA is used as a material to create nanoscale structures…

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ACE-ing protein detection in single cells

Jessica Leff — Tue, 30 Jul 2024 14:55:40 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Since the 1950s, researchers have used a famous method invented by Wallace Coulter known as “flow cytometry” to characterize different types of immune cells in research studies and in blood samples from human individuals. This has enabled a much deeper understanding of immune cell development as well as new ways to assess human health and diagnose various blood…

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DoriVac: DNA Origami-Based Vaccines for Combination Immunotherapy

Jessica Leff — Wed, 01 May 2024 17:54:19 +0000

Serious diseases like cancer and autoimmune conditions require multiple drugs to treat and manage them, but combining drugs is challenging for a number of reasons. The primary problem is toxicity, as the side effects of multiple drugs can compound each other and produce much greater patient suffering than either drug alone – sometimes to the point that the combination is too dangerous to give to a…

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Crisscross Nanoseed Detection: Nanotechnology-Powered Infectious Disease Diagnostics

Jessica Leff — Wed, 01 May 2024 09:34:25 +0000

Speed, accuracy, and affordability are of the essence in the detection of established and newly emerging pathogens to provide timely care, mitigate transmission, and help lower the financial burden on healthcare systems. Among them, those causing sexually transmitted diseases (STIs), including HIV/AIDS and hepatitis C, cause a major global burden on health care systems. In the U.S. alone…

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