Search results for: Sensors | Wyss Institute

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SNIFFIA – Sensory Nature-Inspired Fact Finder for Indoor Air
We are bringing to market an innovative, bioinspired sensor of volatile compounds that gives building operators confidence in the measurement of gasses indoors and provides guidance to achieving healthy indoor air quality (IAQ). SNIFFIA (Sniffing Nose-Inspired Fact Finder of Indoor Air) is affordable, accurate, and highly sensitive thanks to the advanced data collection and processing...
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NucleoTide – CRISPR-based biosensors for rapidly detecting harmful marine microbes
The warming of the oceans due to climate change has increased the frequency and potency of harmful algal blooms. These algae species produce toxins that can harm or even kill people, fish, shellfish, marine mammals, and birds. Researchers at the Wyss Institute are working to develop inexpensive sensors that could detect dangerous algae species earlier...
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Reimagining Diagnostics for His Mom: Pawan Jolly
Pawan Jolly is a Senior Staff Scientist leading the Sensors team to help develop better diagnostics for various illnesses and allergies. He also serves as the technology lead for the Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator. In this video, he shares a heartfelt personal story about his mom who suffers from severe allergies and how he would Reimagine...
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eToehold: an RNA-detecting control element for use in RNA therapeutics, diagnostics and cell therapies
This animation shows an example of an eToehold that detects and signals the presence of a specific viral RNA in a human cell. After the virus has injected its RNA into a host cell, the RNA acts as a “trigger RNA” by binding to a complementary sequence within the eToehold specifically engineered for its detection....
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Researching Biosensors with Dr. Pawan Jolly
Point of Care Medical Devices are the future! Pawan Jolly, Ph.D., Senior Staff Scientist at The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University talks with Jonah and Aryan of the Beyond the Books podcast about his research in the biosensor and medical device arena. They ask him about his latest COVID-19 focused project,...
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Origami Miniature Surgical Manipulator
Researchers from the Wyss Institute, Harvard SEAS, and Sony have created the mini-RCM, a small surgical robot that can help surgeons perform delicate teleoperated procedures on the human body. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Smart Thermally Actuating Textiles
Smart Thermally Actuating Textiles (STATs) are tightly-sealed pouches that are able to change shape or maintain their pressure even in environments in which the exterior temperature or airflow fluctuates. This soft robotics technology could be developed as novel components of rehabilitation therapies or to prevent tissue damage in hospital bed or wheelchair-bound individuals. Credit: Wyss...
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eRapid: Bringing Diagnostics Home
Senior Research Scientist, Pawan Jolly, gives an overview of the eRapid Institute Project, a platform of multiplexed electrochemical sensors for fast, accurate, portable diagnostics. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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eRAPID: a Platform for Portable Diagnostics
eRapid is an electrochemical sensing platform that uses a novel antifouling coating to enable low-cost, multiplexed detection of a wide range of biomolecules for diagnostics and other applications. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard
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Hip-only Soft Exosuit for both Walking and Running
This video demonstrates the use of the hip-assisting exosuit in different natural environments, and shows how the robotic device senses changes in the gait-specific vertical movements of the center of mass during walking and running to rapidly adjust its actuation. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Robert Wood receives Max Planck-Humboldt Medal
This photomatic portrays Robert Wood and his team innovating (soft) robotics research with new approaches. Credit: Max Planck Society
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abbieSense
abbieSense is a Wyss technology that can detect histamine levels in human body fluids and determine the severity of an allergic reaction, which could help save the lives of patients with severe allergies. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Multi-joint Personalized Soft Exosuit Breaks New Ground
A multidisciplinary team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS has developed a mobile multi-joint soft exosuit using an automatic tuning strategy that could reduce fatigue in soldiers, firefighters or other rescue workers. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Rolls-Royce and SWARM Robots
Tiny SWARM robots are part of Rolls-Royce’s IntelligentEngine vision, and could one day revolutionize the way they maintain jet engines. Listen to the Wyss Institute’s Sebastien de Rivas explain the technology behind them.
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3D Printing: Soft Robots with Embedded Sensors
Researchers from the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS have developed a platform for 3D printed, soft robots with embedded sensors that can feel touch, pressure, motion and temperature. This technology could be used for integrated sensing across a range of soft robotic applications. Credit: Harvard SEAS
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Therapeutic Organ Engineering: Highlights From The 8th Annual Wyss Symposium
The 8th Annual Wyss International Symposium focused on innovations in therapeutic organ engineering, featuring diverse speakers doing exciting work in 3D organ engineering, materials fabrication, and vascular integration. This video highlights some of the themes discussed in their presentations as well as the advances that are leading to the ultimate goals of developing new approaches...
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8th Annual Wyss Institute Symposium: Therapeutic Organ Engineering
Screened just before the symposium opening, this animation artistically connects concepts of therapeutic organ engineering presented during the event. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Hybrid 3D Printing of Soft Electronics
A new hybrid 3D printing technique developed at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, Harvard’s John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and the Air Force Research Laboratory combines stretchable conductive inks and electronic components into flexible, durable wearable devices that move with the body and offer increased programmability. This research was supported...
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Soft Exosuit for Post-stroke Gait Re-training
This video explains how exosuit technology, developed at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, applied to ankle movements helps patients post-stroke regain a more normal gait. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Soft Fabric Sensors
This textile-based sensor effectively registers fine motor movements of the human body, taking researchers one step closer to creating soft, wearable robots. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Project ABBIE
Project ABBIE is inspired by the story of Abbie Benford, who succumbed to complications related to anaphylaxis just eight days before her 16th birthday. The Wyss Institute, in collaboration with Boston Children’s Hospital, is developing a wearable, non-invasive device that could sense anaphylaxis and automatically inject epinephrine in individuals who are unable to do so...
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3D Printed Heart-on-a-Chip
In this video, learn how Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS researchers have created a 3D-printed heart-on-a-chip that could lead to new customizable devices for short-term and long-term in vitro testing. Credit: Johan U. Lind (Disease Biophysics Group), Alex D. Valentine and Lori K. Sanders (Lewis Lab)/Harvard University
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Root: Meets Students At Any Level
This video demonstrates how Root can be used in classrooms to help instill coding and programming skills in students at any level. Developed by a team of researchers led by Wyss Core Faculty member Radhika Nagpal, the Root system is designed to be as intuitive and approachable as any tablet app, providing a framework easy...
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Detecting Zika: A platform for rapid, low-cost diagnostics
In this video, a team of collaborators led by Wyss Core Faculty member James Collins discuss a low-cost, paper-based diagnostic system that they developed for detecting specific strains of the Zika virus, with the goal that it could soon be used in the field to easily screen blood, urine, or saliva samples. Credit: Wyss Institute...
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Meet Root: The Robot that Brings Code to Life
Computational thinking and programming underlie the digital world around us – yet K-16 teachers have been challenged to find the right teaching tool to instill coding and programming skills in beginners of a wide age range. Recognizing the pressing need for young students to be digitally literate and the remarkable educational power of robots, a...
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Soft Robotic Grippers For Deep-Sea Exploration
In this video, two types of soft robotic grippers are shown successfully collecting coral samples at the bottom of the Red Sea. The first gripper features opposing pairs of bending actuators, while the second gripper – inspired by the coiling action of a boa constrictor – can access tight spaces and clutch small and irregular...
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Distributed Cell Division Counter
Genetically engineered E. coli containing a fluorescing red protein enabled a Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School team to analyze the population fluctuations of gut microbes by comparing proportion of “marked” to “unmarked” cells. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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RoboBee: From Aerial to Aquatic
The RoboBee is a miniature robot that has long been able to fly. But what if the RoboBee lands in water? Using a modified flapping technique, researchers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have demonstrated that the RoboBee...
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Bioinspired Robotics: Softer, Smarter, Safer
The Bioinspired Robotics platform at HarvardÍs Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering looks into Nature to obtain insights for the development of new robotic components that are smarter, softer, and safer than conventional industrial robots. By looking at natural intelligence, collective behavior, biomechanics, and material properties not found in manmade systems, scientists at the Wyss...
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Circadian Transplant
The first successful transplant of a circadian rhythm into a naturally non-circadian species could lead to precisely timed release of drugs and other innovative therapeutic applications. In this video, gut bacteria (E. coli) exhibit a circadian rhythm after circadian oscillators were transferred from cyanobacteria. The ‘mother cell’ at the top blinks on and off with...
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Soft Robotic Glove
The soft robotic glove under development at the Wyss Institute could one day be an assistive device used for grasping objects, which could help patients suffering from muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), incomplete spinal cord injury, or other hand impairments to regain some daily independence and control of their environment. This research is partially...
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Motion Capture Lab
The Wyss InstituteÍs Motion Capture Lab is a state of the art facility designed to measure and analyze human motion. It allows Wyss Institute scientists and their collaborators to design, build and test assistive technologies, ultimately accelerating the translation of new devices to improve human lives. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Toehold Switches
In this animation, Wyss Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Alex Green, Ph.D., the lead author of “Toehold Switches: De-Novo-Designed Regulators of Gene Expression”, narrates a step-by-step guide to the mechanism of the synthetic toehold switch gene regulator. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Programmable Paper: Advances in Synthetic Biology
Wyss Institute scientists discuss the collaborative environment and team effort that led to two breakthroughs in synthetic biology that can either stand alone as distinct advances – or combine forces to create truly tantalizing potentials in diagnostics and gene therapies. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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Kilobots: A Thousand-Robot Swarm
In this video, Kilobots self-assemble in a thousand-robot swarm. The algorithm developed by Wyss Institute Core Faculty member Radhika Nagpal that enables the swarm provides a valuable platform for testing future collective Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms. Credit: Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
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Dynamic Daylight Redirection System
This video shows Keojin Jin conducting a shoebox test that shows the light reflection effect to the top surface of the box as well as the reduction of direct light to the bottom surface of the box. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Self-Folding Robots
In this video, Wyss Institute Core Faculty member Rob Wood, who is also the Charles River Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and SEAS Ph.D. student Sam Felton discuss their landmark achievement in robotics – getting a robot to assemble itself and walk away autonomously –...
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Soft Robotic Exosuit
In this video, Harvard faculty member Conor Walsh and members of his team explain how the biologically inspired Soft Exosuit targets enhancing the mobility of healthy individuals and restoring the mobility of those with physical disabilities. This research is partially funded by the National Science Foundation. Note: This technology is currently in the research and...
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Virus-inspired DNA Nanodevices
Wyss Institute Core Faculty member William Shih and Technology Development Fellow Steven Perrault explain why DNA nanodevices need protection inside the body, and how a viral-inspired strategy helps protect them. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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DNA Cages
To create supersharp images of their cage-shaped DNA polyhedra, the scientists used DNA-PAINT, a microscopy method that uses short strands of DNA (yellow) labeled with a fluorescent chemical (green) to bind and release partner strands on polyhedra corners, causing them to blink. The blinking corners reveal the shape of structures far too small to be...
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Fluorescent in situ Sequencing
In this video, George Church, Ph.D., a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute and Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, explains how fluorescent in situ sequencing could lead to new diagnostics that spot the earliest signs of disease, and how it could help reveal how neurons in the brain connect and function. Credit:...
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Vibrating Mattress: Preventing Infant Apnea
What if we could prevent infant apnea? Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University