Search results

Technologies 2

• DoriVac: DNA Origami-Based Vaccines for Combination Immunotherapy
  Personalized cancer and infectious disease vaccine platform harnessing DNA nanotechnology to control the co-delivery and co-presentation of tumor antigen and adjuvant ligands to immune cells with nanoscale precision. This approach has potential to trigger enhanced immune responses against tumors and infectious pathogens.
• Implantable Cancer Vaccine
  The implantable cancer vaccine is an aspirin-sized disc that is implanted under the skin and serves as an artificial lymph node, recruiting and training a patient's own immune cells to find and kill their cancer cells. It was validated in a Phase I clinical trial at the Wyss Institute, and is currently being developed by Novartis to treat melanoma.

Collaborations 1

• i3 Center: Biomaterials to Create T Cell Immunity
  Cancer immunologists and biological engineers are developing new biomaterials-based approaches to develop new anti-cancer immunotherapies for treatment-resistant cancers.

News 18

View all

• Research Spotlights
  
  First-in-human clinical trial of personalized, biomaterial-based cancer vaccine demonstrates feasibility, safety, and immune activation
  December 10, 2025
• Press Release
  
  Expanding a lymph node, boosting a vaccine
  May 6, 2024
• Press Release
  
  DNA origami-based vaccines toward safe and highly-effective precision cancer immunotherapy
  March 15, 2024

Multimedia 5

• 

  Video/Animation
  David Mooney on the Mission to Save Lives Through Cancer Research
  David Mooney, Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute and Robert Pinkas Family Professor of Bioengineering in the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, discusses training immune cells to recognize and destroy cancer mutations. While current immunotherapies create nearly miraculous cures for some patients, they only work for certain cancers and a fraction of...

• 

  Video/Animation
  DoriNano – Improved DNA Origami Nanodelivery to Fight Cancer and Other Diseases
  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 delivering...

• 

  Video/Animation
  How can we train the immune system to fight cancer?
  The implantable cancer vaccine is a biomaterial that recruits and reprograms a patient’s own immune cells on-site to kill cancer cells. This revolutionary immuno-material technology was tested in a Phase I clinical trial with promising results and is currently licensed by Novartis as an immunotherapy to treat specific tumor types. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard...

• 

  Video/Animation
  DoriVac: Square Block DNA Origami Vaccine
  This animation explains how DoriVac leverages DNA origami nanotechnology and immune activators to stimulate stronger and long-lasting immune responses against cancer and potentially infectious diseases. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

• 

  Audio/Podcast
  Immunoengineering with Dave Mooney – BIOS Podcast
  Wyss Core Faculty member Dave Mooney is a leader in the fields of biomaterials, mechanotransduction, drug delivery, tissue engineering and immunoengineering. He is interested in understanding how cells sense signals in their environment and how this alters cell behavior. His laboratory develops biomaterials that exploit these signals to regulate specific cells and their function. They...