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20-ish Questions with Christopher Chen
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 Christopher Chen, M.D., Ph.D., a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute. He is also the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor, Biomedical Engineering & Director, Biological Design Center...
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AVATARs for Astronaut Health Are Heading to Space!
NASA’s AVATAR experiment is flying aboard Artemis II to study how deep space affects human health. Using Organ Chips containing astronaut cells, Emulate and Wyss Institute researchers will examine how radiation and microgravity impact human tissue. This research will help inform medical strategies for future long-duration missions to Mars and beyond. The findings could also...
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20-ish Questions with David J. Mooney
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 J. Mooney, a Founding Core Faculty member and Lead of the Immuno-Materials platform at the Wyss Institute. He is also the Robert P. Pinkas Family Professor of...
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When Matter Makes Decisions: Michael Levin on the Intelligence of Form
In this episode of Grow Everything, hosts Karl Schmieder and Erum Azeez Khan have a conversation with Professor Michael Levin, Ph.D., Wyss Associate Faculty member and the Director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts University. He reveals how cells make decisions without brains, store memories without DNA, and navigate anatomical space like we navigate...
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20-ish Questions with Ellen Roche
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...
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George Church on Widespread Genomic Sequencing, Xenotransplantation, and Shepherding Change
In this interview, GenomeWeb speaks to Core Faculty member George Church, Ph.D., who is also a professor at Harvard Medical School and the Harvard-MIT Program in Health Sciences and Technology. A thinker, inventor, and collaborator extraordinaire, Church’s technologies and personality catalyzed the Human Genome Project, the Personal Genome Project, and more than 50 biotech startups,...
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20-ish Questions with Michael Levin
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 Michael Levin, an Associate Faculty member of the Wyss Institute, as well as the Director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts and Tufts Center for Regenerative and...
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20-ish Questions with David Walt
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...
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Engineering Living Materials with Peter Q. Nguyen
In this episode of the CoreSpin Podcast Interview Series, host Misha Bagirov sits down with Wyss Senior Scientist Peter Q. Nguyen, Ph.D., to explore how synthetic biology can turn biofilms into useful materials, embed cell-free systems into wearables (like COVID-sensing masks), and program probiotics as future therapeutics. We also talked about the philosophy behind bioengineering,...
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Can We Stop Stabbing Babies? – Salivary Diagnostics for Sepsis Screening in the Neonate
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...
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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...
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George Church: Embracing Outliers in Science and in Life
George Church, Ph.D., is a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute and a genetics professor at Harvard Medical School. He is a pioneer in synthetic biology and personalized genomics. In 2017, Time magazine named him as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In addition to being a scientist, Church is...
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20-ish Questions with Pamela Silver
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 Pamela Silver, a Founding Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute as well as the Elliot T. and Onie H. Adams Professor of Biochemistry and Systems Biology at...
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Reimagining a World Without Terminal Illness
As he battles metastatic skin cancer, Wyss Scientific Instrument maker John Caramanica is more motivated than ever to do his part in fabricating technologies to improve the health of others and our planet. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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The End of Aging—And Extinction | George Church, Ph.D. on Longevity, Dire Wolves, and Woolly Mammoths
What if aging was optional—and extinction reversible? In this episode of Ignition Sequence, Wyss Core Faculty member and geneticist and biotech pioneer, George Church, Ph.D., joins host Dylan Bohbot to explore the frontiers of gene therapy, de-extinction, and the future of human health. A founding scientist behind the Human Genome Project, and co-founder of Colossal...
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20-ish Questions with Samir Mitragotri
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 Samir Mitragotri, a Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute as well as a Professor of Bioengineering and Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School...
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Finding a Balance In Bipolar Disorder Through Drug Prediction and Organoid-Based Drug Screening
CircaVent is a high-throughput drug screening platform that combines predictive algorithms, preclinical models, and human brain organoids to efficiently identify and test drugs that could treat the underlying causes of bipolar disorder. CircaVent is initially focused on addressing the circadian rhythm disruptions that are a common hallmark of BD, and could dramatically speed up the...
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Atlantic Health: Accelerating Innovation – AI and Drug Discovery
The Atlantic’s Health Summit returned to Boston in 2025 for their annual exploration of the urgent issues reshaping the healthcare landscape. The event showcased recent breakthroughs that are redefining medical practices and explored the challenges of scaling innovation and implementing sustainable solutions. Speakers explored early disease detection, novel anesthetics, pain management, AI and drug discovery,...
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The Importance of Science
The United States has been the preeminent force in the world economy for the past 50 years because it has been the leader in technology innovation. The abrupt changes in government funding for scientific research now being proposed by the current administration can stop this innovation engine in its tracks. Our economic competitiveness is a...
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Atlantic Health Research Spotlight: Novel Anesthetics for Care in Battlefield and Disaster Area
The Atlantic’s Health Summit returned to Boston in 2025 for their annual exploration of the urgent issues reshaping the healthcare landscape. The event showcased recent breakthroughs that are redefining medical practices and explored the challenges of scaling innovation and implementing sustainable solutions. Speakers explored early disease detection, novel anesthetics, pain management, AI and drug discovery,...
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Let’s talk about women’s health
When promoting the ReConstruct technology, which improves the lives of patients undergoing breast reconstruction, our social media team found that the use of the word “breast” was deemed as “inappropriate” by the algorithms of certain social media sites. Thus, these posts performed more poorly than similar posts. Without the ability to talk openly about Women’s...
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Human Skin Rejuvenation: Li Li, Ph.D.
In this episode of Conquer Aging or Die Trying, host Michael Lustgarten, Ph.D. speaks to Wyss Postdoctoral Fellow Li Li, Ph.D. about the technology she’s developing for skin rejuvenation.
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20-ish Questions with George Church
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 George Church, a founding Core Faculty member of the Wyss Institute and lead of the Synthetic Biology Focus Area. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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The Dish Live with special guest George Church
In this very special live taping of “The Dish,” host Johannes Fruehauf sits down with renowned geneticist and Wyss Core Faculty member, George Church, Ph.D. Widely known for discovering the first direct genomic sequencing method, Church has reshaped the world of genetics. A professor at Harvard and MIT and a founding professor at the Wyss...
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20ish Questions with Elliot Chaikof
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 Elliot Chaikof, an Associate Faculty member at the Wyss Institute as well as the Chair of the Department of Surgery & Surgeon-in-Chief at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center....
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ESCAPE Bioengineering
A research team at the Wyss Institute and Boston University has developed ESCAPE, the first method that enables the engineering of tissues across multiple length scales, ranging from the diameter of a cell to the cm scale of a heart valve. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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20-ish Questions with Natalie Artzi
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 Natalie Artzi, a new addition to the Wyss Institute’s Core Faculty. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Progress, Potential, and Possibilities with Luba Perry, Ph.D. – Bioengineered Breast Reconstruction And Augmentation
Each episode of this podcast includes a discussion with fascinating people designing a better tomorrow. Luba Perry, Ph.D. is Co-Founder and CEO of ReConstruct Bio, an innovative venture emerging from Harvard’s Wyss Institute, aimed at redefining the fields of medical reconstruction and aesthetics with an initial application of their groundbreaking technology on breast reconstruction and...
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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...
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Project Air: Bioinspired Sensor of Volatile Compounds
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). Project Air is affordable, accurate, and highly sensitive thanks to the advanced data collection and processing implemented to substantially increase the reliability...
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Arbor Armor: Could FcMBL Save The Peach Industry?
Brown rot is one of the most devastating peach diseases, affecting both home and commercial orchards. When a member of the Wyss community discovered the disease on his peach tree, he mentioned his concerns with others in our community. What he didn’t expect was that his colleague potentially had a novel solution using an existing...
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Deep-dive Molecular Blueprinting of Therapeutic Nanostructures | Anastasia Ershova
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...
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Join Our Community of Practical Dreamers
Are you a collaborative, impact-focused problem solver who wants to be part of a dynamic team dedicated to creating and commercializing technology solutions for healthcare and sustainability? Join our Wyss community! Visit Wyss Careers to learn more and discover career opportunities at the Wyss Institute. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard Universisty
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AminoX: Making Better Protein Drugs, Quicker and Cheaper
A synthetic biology and advanced chemistry platform that efficiently incorporates non-standard amino acids by hacking the ubiquitous protein synthesis process. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Reachable – Restoring arm function after stroke
The Reachable project from Conor Walsh’s lab is a wearable shoulder device that assists patients with upper limb disability. Stroke survivor and collaborator, Julie Hahnke, shares her experience working with the research team, using the current prototype, and her hopes for how this technology could improve the rehabilitation outcomes of stroke patients and others suffering...
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Innovating Diagnostics to Improve Clinical Care and Patient Outcomes
Guest speaker, Sarah-Beth Perullo, shares the immense difficulty she faced in obtaining a diagnosis for her mysterious symptoms. Her story is a sobering reminder of how frequent patient symptoms are dismissed in the medical field. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Mice Don’t Menstruate: Reimagining Women’s Health Using Organ Chips with Dr. Donald Ingber
In this episode, host Sharon Kedar, Co-Founder of Northpond Ventures, is joined by Dr. Donald Ingber, Founding Director at Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Dr. Ingber’s commitment to following his passion has led him to countless medical and technological breakthroughs, including Organ Chip technology. These incredible chips recreate the structure and...
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Atlantic Health Research Spotlight: Female-Reproductive-Tract Organ Chips for Women’s Health and Fertility Studies
Innovation has disrupted care as we know it. Challenges with access, complex diseases, and care delivery persist, but so do areas of opportunity for emerging tech and discoveries. The Atlantic explored gene editing, artificial intelligence, climate change, weight-loss and diabetes treatments, and more at their annual Health Summit. Wyss researchers Aakanksha Gulati, Ph.D., and Ola...
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Atlantic Health Research Spotlight: Finding Balance in Bipolar Disorder Through Drug Prediction and Organoid-Based Drug Screening
Innovation has disrupted care as we know it. Challenges with access, complex diseases, and care delivery persist, but so do areas of opportunity for emerging tech and discoveries. The Atlantic explored gene editing, artificial intelligence, climate change, weight-loss and diabetes treatments, and more at their Annual Health Summit. The Wyss’ Director of Synthetic Biology, Jenny...
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Reimagine the World – Volume 3 – Northpond Edition
The Wyss Institute’s alliance with Northpond Labs supports early-stage, transformative research with strong translation potential. Hear Northpond Ventures co-founders Michael Rubin and Sharon Kedar explain why they decided to partner with the Wyss, as well as the leaders of various Wyss projects and startups about how support from Northpond has helped accelerate their technologies to...
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HarborSite Animation
This animation explains how the Wyss Institute’s HarborSite genome editing technology uses highly specific and efficient recombinase enzymes and genomic safe harbors to achieve more predictable, safe, and durable gene therapies. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Reimagine the World – Volume 4 – ReConstruct Edition
Denise Skok, a two-time breast cancer survivor, Luba Perry, a scientist at the Wyss Institute, and Samuel Lin, a plastic surgeon collaborating with the Wyss Institute, are all working to reimagine a world where breast cancer patients have better reconstruction options. The ReConstruct project at the Wyss Institute uses adipose tissue assembled from a patient’s...
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What is the future of Engineering with Bioengineering Pioneer Donald E Ingber – Museum of Science
Is biological inspiration the key to the future of engineering? Bioethicist Insoo Hyun sits down with Donald E. Ingber, Founding Director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and Professor of Bioengineering at Harvard’s School of Engineering & Applied Sciences. Together they explore the profound impact of Nature on engineering beyond the realms of...
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Enhancing Lactation to Improve Infant and Maternal Health
Lactation Biologics is developing a long-lasting, self-injectable treatment to help nursing mothers feed their babies naturally, helping them get the best nutrition possible in the face of climate disasters and supply chain disruptions. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Reimagining Healthcare for Women – 52% of All Patients
Dr. Kathryn Rexrode, Division Chief of Women’s Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, discusses gender and biological sex-based discrimination in medicine, the profound effect that gender and biological sex has on healthcare, the short falls in women’s health research, and why she is hopeful that healthcare will improve for women. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard...
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Reimagining a World Without Breast Cancer
Denise Skok, a three-times cancer survivor, twice breast cancer and once skin cancer, shares the medical and emotional challenges she had to overcome to be cancer-free. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Reimagining Solutions to the Infectious Disease Challenge
William Lautzenheiser narrowly survived a rare and devastating infection that claimed all four of his limbs. In a brilliant display of resilience and to cope with his new normal, he turned to comedy, as a way of telling his story in a relatable way. Comedy footage courtesy of STUMPED: stumpedthemovie.com Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard...
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Reimagining a World Without Parkinson’s Disease
Lisa and Patrick Peterson were soulmates whose loving and happy marriage was cut tragically short by Parkinson’s Disease. Lisa recounts their harrowing story from Patrick’s diagnosis to her experience as caregiver. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Reimagine the World Trailer – Keep Going
Patients, clinicians, and family members of patients share how researchers are giving them hope for a better future. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Wyss Institute: Past, Present, Future
Prior to the Wyss Institute’s founding in 2009, a working group at Harvard University assembled envision the future of biomedical engineering. Now in 2023, we see the how this foundation led to successful technologies positively impacting human and planet health. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Our Sustainable Future
The Wyss Institute is developing sustainable materials and devices to ensure a bright future and a healthy planet for future generations to inherit. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard
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ReConstruct – 3D Bioprinted Vascularized Fat Tissues for Breast Reconstruction
Breast cancer affects 15% of all women. Current options for breast reconstruction are insufficient and have poor patient outcomes. A research team at the Wyss Institute is addressing this clinical need by fabricating vascularized adipose tissue flaps for therapeutic use. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Vesma – Refrigerant-Free, Eco-Friendly Cooling for All Climates
An interdisciplinary team from the Wyss Institute, Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Harvard Graduate School of Design is continuing to advance global climate solutions for building cooling. By combining the evaporative cooling technology, cSNAP, and vacuum membrane dehumidification, the team has developed a refrigerant-free, eco-friendly cooling solution suitable for all climates. Credit:...
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World of OMICs w/ David Walt & Mike Snyder – BIOS Roundtable
This is a roundtable discussion on the world of OMICs with Wyss Core Faculty member David Walt and Mike Snyder of Stanford University presented by BIOS. David Walt is a Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard Medical School, a Professor of Pathology at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, a Core Faculty member at...
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Peter Nguyen: Biology Engineering, Bigfoot Hunting, and Better Climate Technology
Wyss Senior Scientist Peter Nguyen received a B.S. in Biochemistry and B.A. in Philosophy from the University of Texas, his M.Bs. from the Keck Graduate Institute, and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from Rice University. At the Wyss Institute, Peter currently works on programmable probiotics and freeze-dried cell-free manufacturing technology across multiple platforms. His research interests...
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Genetic & Cellular Engineering w/ David Schaffer & Samir Mitragotri – BIOS Roundtable
Samir Mitragotri is a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute and the Hiller Professor of Bioengineering & Hansjorg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard SEAS. David Schaffer is Professor at UC Berkeley & Director at BBH. The two discuss Genetic and Cellular Engineering, with a focus on delivery challenges.
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Bridging science, engineering, and art: from mechanobiology to Human Organs-on-Chips
In this Marsilius Lecture, Wyss Founding Director Don Ingber shares his personal path from a serendipitous experience in an undergraduate art class that led to his discovery of how living cells are constructed using “tensegrity” architecture and how this contributed to the birth of the field of Mechanobiology to his more recent work on human...
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Novel Model Organisms w/ Don Ingber & Hans Clevers – BIOS Roundtable
Don Ingber – Founding Director at Wyss Institute Hans Clevers – Head of Pharma Research & Development (pRED) at Roche Hear about the evolution of humanized models and their potential applications in drug development, personalized medicine, and more. Ingber and Clevers share their scientific experiences and expertise. They also discuss misconceptions surrounding the application of...
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How do we make safer and more effective drugs?
Wyss researchers are using an ever-growing number of human tissue-mimicking Organ Chips to improve and accelerate the drug development process for a wide number of unmet diseases – and understand what causes them to erupt. More recently, they added a human Vagina Chip and personalized Barrett’s esophagus Chip to their arsenal, and created in vitro...
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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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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...
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How can we restore mobility to the sick and injured?
Researchers at the Wyss Institute are working to improve treatment outcomes for patients suffering from reduced mobility. This video focuses on two platform technologies that could improve the quality of life for these patients: stochastic resonance and wearable soft robotics. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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How can we increase energy efficiency?
Inspired by the pitcher plant, researchers at the Wyss Institute, created a non-stick, ultra-repellent, self-healing surface coating called SLIPS (Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces). This example of bioinspired engineering, a hallmark of the Wyss, has numerous applications such as in medical devices, HVAC, refrigeration, marine engineering, aviation, and manufacturing. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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How can we get diagnostics to patients faster?
The Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA) is an initiative to enable the fast creation of diagnostic technologies to solve high-value clinical problems through deep collaborations driven by unmet diagnostic needs. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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How can we feed the world?
The current agricultural methods of feeding the world are not sustainable and already have dire consequences that will worsen as the Earth’s population continues to grow. Researchers at the Wyss Institute are working on various solutions that could help provide food for our future needs with a lower environmental impact. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard...
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How can we better treat brain diseases?
The Brain Targeting Program at the Wyss Institute is a pre-competitive, multi-partner industry collaboration that aims to identify novel transport targets and shuttle compounds to enable more effective delivery of drugs to the brain. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Reimagine the World – Volume 2 – Diagnostics Accelerator
Two clinicians collaborating with the Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA), Lise Johnson and Craig Hersh, as well as two members of the Wyss DxA Industrial Partnership Program, Nell Meosky Luo and Andy Levin, share how they would Reimagine the World and the personal stories that fuel their passion for the work they are doing. Credit: Wyss...
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Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator – The Industrial Participant Program
The Industrial Participant Program (IPP) is a collaboration hub between healthcare testing companies and the scientific and clinical community within the Wyss ecosystem, driven by the Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA). Members of the IPP share the common goal of fast-tracking diagnostic technologies to meet unmet, critical needs. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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FeCILL: Reimagining How We Treat the Sickest Patients
Opportunistic fungal infections usually only affect patients whose immune systems are compromised, but when they do, they are often deadly – the mortality rate for these infections can be as high as 25%. Existing antifungal treatments have high levels of toxicity, and can harm the patient more than they help. Researchers at the Wyss Institute...
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Innovation Institutes w/ Don Ingber, David Baker, Brad Ringeisen, & Patrick Hsu – BIOS Roundtable #6
Don Ingber – Founding Director at the Wyss Institute & Professor at Harvard Brad Ringeisen – Executive Director at Innovative Genomics Institute David Baker – Professor at UW & Director at Institute for Protein Design Patrick Hsu – Assistant Professor at UC Berkeley & Co-Founder at Arc Institute As the number of breakthrough biomedical discoveries...
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Metabolic T cell Labeling: simple and effective enhancement of therapeutic T cells with immune-stimulating cytokines
This animation shows how the surface of patient-derived T cells is metabolically labeled with azido-sugar molecules that then can be used to attach immune-enhancing cytokines with the help of click chemistry. The approach could help expand adoptive T cell therapies to treatment of solid tumors. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Reimagining Health Equity: Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator
With the Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA), we’re reimagining health equity by accelerating the development and deployment of needed diagnostics in all settings, particularly in low-resource settings, by fostering deep collaborations driven by unmet needs. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Reimagining Protein Engineering Inspired by His Father: Mike Super
Mike Super is a Lead Staff Scientist using protein engineering to design therapeutic and diagnostic devices to treat cancer, and infectious and immunological diseases. He also leads the Biostasis team at the Wyss. In this video, he shares his personal and professional journey that began in the deserts of Namibia shadowing his father, one of...
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Define Your Own Path | Angelika Fretzen on Her Story
In this episode of Her Story, Sandra Fenwick, Former CEO of Boston Children’s Hospital, speaks with Dr. Angelika Fretzen, Ph.D., M.B.A., Director and COO of Wyss Institute’s Technology Translation, about her experience of being a woman in STEM and how she encourages younger generations to join the STEM community. Angelika Fretzen, Ph.D., M.B.A. is the...
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Seed-dependent crisscross DNA-origami slats
This animation explains how the newly invented crisscross origami method can be used to build functionalized micron-scale DNA megastructures composed of many unique DNA origami “slats,” each with their own complexity and interactive properties. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Wyss Institute – 14 Years of Impact
In honor of Hansjörg Wyss’ fourth transformational gift to Harvard’s Wyss Institute, this tribute video looks at the impact that the Institute has had over the past 14 years in publications, patent filings, new licenses, new startups, venture capital funding raised, and jobs created. Additionally, it explores the exciting new technologies that the Institute is...
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Reimagining Recovery and Pain Management After Her Injury: Megan Sperry
Megan Sperry is a Postdoctoral Fellow working on the Biostasis project to help develop therapeutics that could slow down biological time. In this video, she shares a personal story about an injury she suffered after years of figure skating and how she would Reimagine the World with better recovery outcomes and pain management after trauma....
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The Vagina Chip: A New Preclinical Model for Research on Vaginal Epithelium Microbiome Interactions
The Vagina Chip allows researchers to study a human model of the vaginal microbiome and develop new treatments for bacterial vaginosis and other conditions that threaten women’s health. Credit: Research Square
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Academic Entrepreneurship w/ Bob Langer & George Church – BIOS Roundtable #4
George Church is a Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute and a Professor at Harvard University. George leads Synthetic Biology at the Wyss Institute, where he oversees the directed evolution of molecules, polymers, and whole genomes to create new tools with applications in regenerative medicine and bio-production of chemicals. Among his recent work at...
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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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Light-Seq: Light-Directed In Situ Barcoding of Biomolecules
This animation explains how the Light-Seq technology works to barcode and deep-sequence selected cell populations in tissue samples, and how the team applied it to the analysis of distinct and rare cells in the mouse retina. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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Reimagining Neurodegenerative Disease Treatment for Her Grandfather: Mariana Garcia-Corral
Mariana Garcia-Corral is a Research Assistant studying brain organoids to help with the treatment of bipolar disorder. In this video, she shares a poignant personal story about her grandfather suffering from Lewy body dementia and how she would Reimagine a World with better neurodegenerative disease treatment. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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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
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Reimagine the World: Volume 1
Four Wyss Institute scientists, Mariana Garcia-Corral, Pawan Jolly, Megan Sperry, and Mike Super, share how they would Reimagine the World and the personal stories that fuel their passion for the work they are doing. We’d love to hear how you would Reimagine the World! Please visit the following link to share your ideas: https://wyss.typeform.com/to/o9xM7cG1 Credit:...
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Eliminating brain cancer at its source | Natalie Artzi | TEDxMIT
Glioblastoma is a lethal, aggressive brain cancer with a dismal median overall survival rate of 15 months, a number that has remained unchanged for decades. Treatment for this devastating disease involves surgical resection followed by chemotherapy and radiation therapy; however, tumor recurrence is inevitable as it is impossible to eliminate all tumor cells with current...
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SomaCode: GPS for Cell Therapy
Just like zip codes help drivers navigate to specific addresses using a GPS system, the molecular ‘zip codes’ identified via the SomaCode platform can be used to deliver cell therapies to their specific targets in the human body, increasing the therapies’ efficacy and reducing side effects. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Reimagine the World Trailer
Four Wyss Institute scientists, Mariana Garcia-Corral, Pawan Jolly, Megan Sperry, and Mike Super, share how they would reimagine the world and why they are passionate about the work they are doing. Join us Fall 2022 as we Reimagine the World. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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cSNAP: Reimagining Cooling
We are reimagining air-conditioners to meet increasing global cooling demand while combatting climate change. Our novel evaporative cooling technology, cSNAP, uses advanced materials science and design to make affordable, environmentally-positive eco-friendly air conditioners that work in most climates without the use of synthetic refrigerants. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Reimagining Robots to be Smaller, Softer, and Safer
Wyss Associate Faculty members, Conor Walsh and Rob Wood, discuss their visions for the future of bio-inspired soft robotics. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Engineering Solutions to Confront the Climate Crisis
At the Wyss Institute, we are committed to tackling this existential climate crisis and are expanding our portfolio of sustainability research projects. Join us in reimagining a more sustainable future, together. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Frontier Science #10: Bioelectrics w/ Michael Levin
Michael Levin, a Wyss Associate Faculty member and a Distinguished Professor in the Biology department at Tufts, holds the Vannevar Bush endowed Chair and serves as director of the Allen Discovery Center at Tufts and the Tufts Center for Regenerative and Developmental Biology. Recent honors include the Scientist of Vision award and the Distinguished Scholar...
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Join Our Community of Practical Dreamers: 2022 Edition
Are you a collaborative, impact-focused problem solver who wants to be part of a dynamic team dedicated to creating and commercializing technology solutions for healthcare and sustainability? Join our Wyss community! Visit Wyss Careers to learn more and discover career opportunities at the Wyss Institute.
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Janus Tough Adhesives for Tendon Repair
There is a large unmet need for tendon regeneration therapies after injury. Building upon the tough gel adhesive technologies developed at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, researchers from these institutions collaborated with a group at Novartis to create the Janus Tough Adhesives (JTAs). This two-sided...
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Xenobots 3.0: Living Robots That Can Reproduce
On Wednesday, December 1, 2021, the scientists behind the Xenobots participated in a live webinar to discuss their research. The panel consisted of Associate Faculty member Mike Levin Ph.D., Sam Kriegman Ph.D., Josh Bongard Ph.D., and Doug Blackiston Ph.D. Answers to the many audience questions asked during the webinar that panelists did not have time...
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Soft Robots Aiding the Elderly and People with Physical Impairments
An interdisciplinary team at Harvard University School of Engineering and the Wyss Institute at Harvard University is building soft robots for older adults and people with physical impairments. Examples of these robots are the Assistive Hip Suit and Soft Robotic Glove, both of which have been included in the 2021-2022 Smithsonian Institution exhibit entitled “FUTURES.”...
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2021 Kabiller Prize in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine
David R. Walt, a Wyss Core Faculty member, member of the faculty at Harvard Medical School in the Department of Pathology, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor, is the winner of the 2021 Kabiller Prize in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine, the world’s largest monetary award for outstanding achievement in the field of nanotechnology and its...
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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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DNA Nanoswitch Calipers
The world’s tiniest ruler for biomolecules has been created by researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, and Boston Children’s Hospital. DNA Nanoswitch Calipers can measure very small peptides to better understand their structure and function, and enable them to be quickly identified in mixed samples. These insights could lead to...
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Innovation Showcase – Tough Gel Technology
Jay Sugarman talks with Benjamin Freedman, PhD. Benjamin is a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. He’s on Innovation Showcase to inform viewers about the groundbreaking research he and some of his colleagues have been involved with related to the development of the next generation of medical-grade adhesives,...
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Beating Back the Coronavirus – Nasal swabs
Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Nasopharyngeal swabs or nasal swabs, used to collect mucus samples to test for the SARS-CoV-2 virus, were in short supply. This created a bottleneck in diagnostics, hampering our ability to control the pandemic. To respond to this need, an interdisciplinary team at the Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School collaborated...
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Innovation Showcase – Wyss Institute: Wearable Technology with Biosensors
Jay Sugarman talks with Peter Nguyen Ph.D., Luis Soenksen, Ph.D., and Nina Donghia–all of whom are associated with the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. They’re on Innovation Showcase to inform viewers about the groundbreaking research they and their colleagues have been involved with related to the development of wearable technology as...
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miSherlock – Detecting COVID-19 Variants from Saliva
Despite increasing vaccination rates, new, more-infectious variants of SARS-CoV-2 could prolong the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and MIT have created a low-cost, CRISPR-based diagnostic platform that can detect SARS-CoV-2 variants in a patient’s saliva without the need for any additional equipment. The team hopes their device will enable more...
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Mucus Layer In Vitro on Human Colon Chip
Using Human Organ Chips, researchers at the Wyss Institute were able to generate the mucus layer of the colon in vitro, which has never been done before. In the colon, the mucus layer protects intestinal epithelial cells against inflammatory stimuli such as pathogens, damaged cells, or irritants. The ability to support mucus-producing cells is one...
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Beating Back the Coronavirus – COVID-19 detecting face mask
Using freeze-dried cell free reactions and CRISPR-based biosensors, researchers at the Wyss Institute and M.I.T. have created a face mask that can detect the SARS-CoV-2 virus in a wearer’s breath in under 90 minutes. Such a mask would allow medical professionals to quickly identify COVID-19 patients and begin effective treatments. This facemask is a proof-of-concept...
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Wearable Synthetic Biology – Clothing that can detect pathogens and toxins
What if we could create clothing that harnesses synthetic biology to detect the wearer’s exposure to toxins and pathogens? A team of researchers at the Wyss Institute and M.I.T. did just that byembedding freeze-dried, synthetic biology-based sensors into flexible materials and textiles. These sensors can detect pathogens such as the SARS-CoV-2 virus and toxins such...
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The Game-Changing Potential of mRNA Vaccines
Promising mRNA vaccines years ago emerged from early-stage development, only to stall before proving themselves in clinical trials. Pushed by pandemic urgency across the notorious “Valley of Death,” this platform vastly exceeded expectations and is now poised to transform the vaccine R&D landscape. During the early months of the historic rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, Sabin’s...
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Wyss Institute Brain Targeting Program
This animation explains how Wyss Institute researchers and their industry partners aim to identify novel transport targets and shuttle compounds to enable more effective delivery of drugs to the brain. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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Nature Can Help Us Prepare for the Next Pandemic
Resiliency, redundancy, adaptability: COVID-19 has shown humanity that we need more of the qualities that are built into nature. See how a cat’s tongue inspired Wyss Lead Staff Engineer Richard Novak to create a novel nasal swab design to aid in COVID-19 diagnostics.
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The electrical blueprints that orchestrate life | Michael Levin TED Talk
DNA isn’t the only builder in the biological world — there’s also a mysterious bioelectric layer directing cells to work together to grow organs, systems and bodies, says biologist and Wyss Associate Faculty member Michael Levin. Sharing unforgettable and groundbreaking footage of two-headed worms, he introduces us to xenobots — the world’s first living robots,...
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Wyss Lumineers: Class of 2020
On November 9th, 2020, Technology Translation Director Angelika Fretzen donned her biking boots and helmet to deliver jackets to the Wyss Institute’s Lumineers Class of 2020. Lumineers are entrepreneurs who successfully de-risk an innovative technology at the Wyss Institute and found a start-up company to commercialize it for real-world impact. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard...
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Using deep learning to detect cancerous skin lesions
Melanoma is a very severe cancer that is often diagnosed too late to save patients’ lives, and most people do not regularly visit a dermatologist for skin exams. Early-stage identification of suspicious pigmented lesions (SPLs), ideally by primary care providers, could lead to improved melanoma prognosis. Researchers at the Wyss Institute and MIT have developed...
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PhonoGraft: Programming the eardrum to repair itself
Eardrum perforations are a widespread problem affecting millions worldwide. Current standard of care is invasive, involves harvesting an autologous tissue to patch the eardrum, and often requires to revision surgeries, while hearing outcomes remain unsatisfying. What if we could program the eardrum to repair itself after injury? Researchers at the Wyss Institute, Massachusetts Eye and...
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A Laser Steering Device for Robot-Assisted Surgery
Responding to an unmet need for a robotic surgical device that is flexible enough to access hard to reach areas of the G.I. tract while causing minimal peripheral tissue damage, Researchers at the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS have developed a laser steering device that has the potential to improve surgical outcomes for patients. Credit:...
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Advancing Science and Technology Innovation By Crossing the Art-Science-Design Interface
Wyss Founding Director Donald E. Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., presented on Advancing Science and Technology Innovation by Crossing the Art-Science-Design Interface at the KAUST Circular Carbon Initiative’s 2021 virtual Winter Enrichment Program. Ingber discussed his path from a serendipitous experience in an undergraduate art class that led to his discovery of how living cells are constructed...
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Studying Pyrosome Bioluminescence
Pyrosomes are one of the few organisms known to exhibit bioluminescence in response to light. They are also very delicate, which makes them difficult to study. Scientists from the Wyss Institute have collaborated with marine biologists to create a soft robot that delicately handles pyrosomes so that they can be studied safely. Recently, the robot...
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Circe: Using Microbes to Make Biodegradable Products
Current manufacturing methods release harmful greenhouse gases and pollution, and many of the products produced do not biodegrade, damaging our ecosystems even further. What if we could turn greenhouse gases into biodegradable products? Researchers at the Wyss Institute are using synthetic biology to make this a reality. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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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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George Church in the Xchange: Curiosity-Driven Science, Technology, And Society
In this episode of the Xchange, we hear from George Church, a true pioneer of synthetic biology and genomics. George will share possible silver linings of the COVID-19 pandemic, draw parallels between personalized medicine and personalized learning and explore what it means to really think outside of the box. A new virtual interview series from...
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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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OMNIVAX: Infection Vaccine Platform
This video explains how OMNIVAX – an immuno-material-based vaccine technology can be used to rapidly create injectable vaccines against diverse viral and bacterial pathogens, and how the platform is used by the team to develop a vaccine against recurring urinary tract infections (UTIs) in their lead human application. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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Beating Back the Coronavirus: FDA-Approved Drug Repurposing Pipeline
With the goal of rapidly repurposing FDA-approved drugs to treat COVID-19, the Wyss Institute is collaborating with the Frieman Lab at the University of Maryland Medical School and the tenOever Lab at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai to establish a multidisciplinary pipeline that can rapidly predict, test, and validate potential treatments. Credit:...
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Alginate Hydrogel for Angiogenesis
This video describes how an alginate hydrogel can be used to trigger the formation of new blood vessels at an ischemic site in the body. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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Low-cost Tactile Displays for the Blind and Visually Impaired
Electrical Engineer, Michael Karpelson, presents a Wyss Institute Validation Project that is developing a simple and inexpensive tactile display technology for the blind and visually impaired, that has almost no learning curve and can augment alphanumerical displays in existing devices. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Beating Back the Coronavirus: Face Shields for Frontline Healthcare Workers
There is a national shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE) for frontline healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic. Researchers from the Jennifer Lewis Lab at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute at Harvard University self-assembled into a team manufacturing greatly needed face shields for local hospitals. Credit: Wyss Institute at...
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Enzymatic DNA Synthesis (EDS) for Data Storage
Postdoctoral Fellow, Henry Lee, presents a Wyss Institute Validation Project that is developing a sustainable, low-cost approach for writing large amounts of digital information in DNA. This could one day replace current data storage methods, which are energy intensive and use large amounts of nonrenewable resources. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Beating Back the Coronavirus
When the coronavirus pandemic forced Harvard University to ramp down almost all on-site operations, members of the Wyss Institute community refocused their teams, and formed new ones, in order to fight COVID-19 on its multiple fronts. These efforts include building new pieces of personal protective equipment that were delivered to frontline healthcare workers, developing new...
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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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Creating Scientific Marvels that are Works of Art
During his TEDx talk, Don Ingber shares his personal path from an ‘Aha’ moment in an undergraduate art class that led to his discovery of how living cells are constructed to his most recent breakthrough – a Human Body-On-Chips – which promises to replace animal testing and advance personalized medicine. Don’s work breaks down boundaries...
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The Human Mind and Gait Control
Researchers study how our brains adjust to changes in our walking strides, gaining insights that could be used to develop better physical rehabilitation programs. Credit: Wyss Institute
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CogniXense: Speeding Up Treatments for Rare Diseases
At the Wyss Institute, we are tackling Rett syndrome, a rare disease that affects 1 out of 9,000 children, by developing a scalable model for neurodevelopmental and cognitive diseases. This model can test drugs to see which will improve memory, learning, and behavior, with the end goal of finding effective therapies. Credit: Wyss Institute at...
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Soft Robotic Gripper for Jellyfish 2.0
Scientists from the Wyss Institute at Harvard University and CUNY have created ultra-soft robotic grippers that resemble fettuccini noodles to safely catch and release delicate underwater creatures like jellyfish without harm. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Improving Canine Healthspan
A Wyss Institute technology that can treat multiple age-related diseases is now being developed by Rejuvenate Bio into a treatment for mitral valve disease and other deadly conditions in dogs, with the goal of helping man’s best friend live longer, healthier lives. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Interrogator: Human Organ-on-Chips
This video describes the “Interrogator” instrument that can be programmed to culture up to 10 different Organ Chips and sequentially transfer fluids between their vascular channels to mimic normal human blood flow between the different organs of our body. Its integrated microscope enables the continuous monitoring of the tissues’ integrities in the individual organ chips...
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Impact Through Disruptive Innovation
At the Wyss Institute, we leverage insights into how Nature builds, controls and manufactures to develop disruptive technology solutions for healthcare and the environment. Our innovations make an impact in the world through commercialization by new startups and corporate alliances. Learn more about technology translation at the Wyss Institute. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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AAV Capsid Engineering
Wyss researchers have created a high-throughput platform to generate an Adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) library containing 200,000 variants, each carrying a distinct mutation in the virus capsid protein. Their analysis identified capsid changes that enhanced “homing” potential to specific organs in mice and virus viability, as well as a new protein hidden in the capsid-encoding...
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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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Design Talk | Wyss Institute Selects
The beauty of natural forms and their underlying design principles provide living organisms with their incredible strength, resilience, and efficiency. Matilda McQuaid, Deputy Director of Curatorial and Head of Textiles leads a discussion with Don Ingber, founding director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, and his co-faculty member Pamela Silver....
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Voxelated Soft Matter via Multimaterial, Multinozzle 3D Printing
Multimaterial Multinozzle 3D (MM3D) Printing, a new technique developed by engineers at the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS, allows seamless switching between up to eight different materials within a single nozzle, allowing for the creation of complex 3D objects in a fraction of the time required by other extrusion-based 3D printing methods. Credit: Wyss Institute...
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Rapid Triage Test for Active Pulmonary Tuberculosis
There’s a large unmet need for accurate, fast, and inexpensive diagnostics for active tuberculosis (ATB), which claims the lives over a million people per year. A team of researchers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, The Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT, Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), and several other collaborating institutions have...
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TEDMED: How wearable robots are transforming human mobility
As a patient struggling to walk after a serious accident on the drive across the country to graduate school, Kathleen O’Donnell became acutely aware of the role mobility can play in quality of life. With this new insight, Kathleen focused her studies on prosthetics and assisted devices. In her own words, “As I became more...
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Wyss Annual Symposium 2019 Next-Generation Diagnostics Open Animation
Open Animation for the Wyss Annual Symposium 2019 Next-Generation Diagnostics Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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A Swifter Way Towards 3D-printed Organs
20 people die waiting for an organ transplant every day in the US, but lab-grown organs so far lack the cellular density and functions required to make them viable replacements. The new SWIFT method from the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS solves those problems by 3D printing vascular channel networks directly into living tissue constructs,...
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Soft Robotic Gripper for Jellyfish
In order to study jellyfish and other fragile marine life without damaging them, researchers at the Wyss Institute and Baruch College developed an ultra-soft gripper to gently grasp jellyfish and release them without harm. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Lighting up proteins with Immuno-SABER
This animation explains how Immuno-SABER uses the Primer Exchange Reaction (PER) to enable the simultaneous visualization of multiple proteins in tissues in different applications. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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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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Engineered Cross-feeding in Bacterial Consortia
Through engineered amino acid cross-feeding, researchers at the Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School modified multiple bacterial strains to reverse antagonistic interactions and develop symbiotic relationships, resulting in a more balanced consortium and paving the way for future bacteria-based therapeutics. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Humans of the Wyss – Faculty Edition with Mike Levin
Our interview series, “Humans of the Wyss – Faculty Edition,” features Wyss Institute faculty members discussing how they think about their work, the influences that helped shape them as scientists, and their collaborations at the Wyss Institute and beyond. In the second edition of the series, Benjamin Boettner, Wyss Institute Communications team member, talks to...
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Self-regenerating bacterial hydrogels as intestinal wound patches
This animation explains how self-regenerating bacterial hydrogels could be used as adhesive patches to help intestinal wounds heal. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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Tension Pistons
The Tension Piston, developed at the Wyss Institute and MIT CSAIL, amplifies piston force and increases energy efficiency by using flexible materials to transmit fluid-induced tension. The Tension Piston is able to produce substantially greater force compared to a conventional piston at the same driving pressure. Tension Pistons can be used in pumps, engines, compressors,...
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Living Materials
Can we create a world of living materials that have the characteristics of biological systems: self-replication, self-regulation, self-healing, environmental responsiveness and self-sustainability? Engineered Living Materials (ELMs) are defined as engineered materials composed of living cells that form or assemble the material itself or modulate the functional performance of the material in some manner. The proposed Big...
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SABER-FISH: Enabling the sensitive and multiplexed detection of nucleic acids within thick tissues
This animation shows how SABER-FISH uses a suite of DNA nanotechnological methods that together enable the sensitive and multiplexed detection of DNA and RNA targets within cells and thick tissues. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Origami Organs
A multidisciplinary team of scientists, engineers, and architectural designers are developing Origami Organs that could function like artificial kidneys. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Romu: A Robot for Environmental Protection
Researchers at the Wyss Institute have developed a robot designed to drive interlocking sheet piles into the ground to help stabilize soil. Teams of such robots could help combat erosion, restore damaged landscapes, and facilitate sustainable land management in a variety of settings. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard
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Le Lab Presents: Designing Future Therapeutics with Samir Mitragotri
Wyss Core Faculty member Samir Mitragotri, Ph.D. presented a talk at Le Laboratoire Cambridge on February 13th, 2019, titled Designing Future Therapeutics. Effective delivery of therapeutics is a major problem in today’s healthcare. At a fundamental level, the challenge of therapeutic delivery reflects the fact that the drug distribution in the body is limited by body’s...
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Le Lab Presents: Measuring and Mimicking Biology with David Walt
Wyss Core Faculty member David Walt, Ph.D. presented a talk at Le Laboratoire Cambridge on January 23rd 2019, titled Measuring and Mimicking Biology: Eyes, Noses, Genes and Proteins. Walt and his team have taken inspiration from both the visual and olfactory systems to design sensor arrays that are inspired by the properties of the natural systems. Optical fiber...
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Liquid-Infused Tympanostomy Tubes
Researchers at the Wyss Institute have developed next-generation tympanostomy tubes with an innovative material design that significantly reduces biofouling, implant size, need for revision surgeries, and promotes drug delivery into the middle ear. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Kidney Organiods: Flow-Enhanced Vascularization and Maturation In Vitro
This video explains how the collaborative project created vascularized kidney organoids and how they advance the field of tissue engineering. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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Bill Meets Bots
In April 2018, Bill Gates visited several Harvard University robotics labs, including two of Wyss Institute Core Faculty members Rob Wood and Conor Walsh. While visiting Wood’s Harvard Microrobotics he learned about the RoboBee and soft grippers for deep sea exploration, and in the Walsh’s Harvard Biodesign Lab he learned about the soft wearable exosuit...
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HAMR-E: Inverted and Vertical Climbing Microrobot
HAMR-E, created in collaboration with Rolls-Royce, is a micro-robot that uses electroadhesion to scale vertical, inverted, and curved surfaces, allowing it to explore spaces that are too small for humans. HAMR-E could one day be used to inspect jet engines and other complicated machines without requiring them to be taken apart. Credit: Wyss Institute at...
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How a Harvard Professor Makes Transforming Toys & Designs
How a Harvard Professor Makes Transforming Toys and Designs was originally published by WIRED on November 29, 2018. This story features Associate Faculty member Chuck Hoberman. The original story can be found here.
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Light-driven fine chemical production in yeast biohybrids
Wyss Institute Core Faculty member Neel Joshi explains the concept of yeast biohybrids and how they can be used to harvest energy from light to drive the production of fine chemicals. 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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Science Nation: Engineering soft robots for paradigm shift in rehabilitation
This video was produced by the National Science Foundation: Tim Gatautis suffered a spinal cord injury in a swimming accident nearly a decade ago and he’s had to use a wheelchair ever since. Gatautis would like to be able to do more for himself, which brings him to the Wyss Institute and the Biodesign Lab...
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Soft Robotic Arms: Giving Biologists a Delicate, Deep-sea Reach
What good is a soft robotic hand without a soft robotic arm to move it? Wyss researchers have now created a soft, modular underwater arm that can help marine biologists study hard-to-reach organisms in the deep sea. 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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Acoustophoretic Printing
Havard researchers have developed acoustophoretic printing, a method that uses 3D printing technology and highly localized sound waves to generate of droplets with defined sizes and a wide range of viscosities.
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Nanofiber-Reinforced Micro-Actuators
This video explains how two fabrication techniques, soft lithography and rotary jet spinning of nanofibers, are combined to create a new type of micro-actuator for the manipulation of small fragile objects in challenging environments. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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This is Your Brain on Chips
How do you study something as complex as the human brain? Take it apart. Wyss researchers have created Organ Chips that mimic the blood-brain barrier and the brain and, by linking them together, discovered how our blood vessels and our neurons influence each other. 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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MORPH: A new soft material microfabrication process
What has the ability to move and show its colors, is made only of silicone rubber and manufactured at the millimeter scale? A soft robotic peacock spider. Researchers have combined three different manufacturing techniques to create a novel origami-inspired soft material microfabrication process that goes beyond what existing approaches can achieve at this small scale....
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3D-Printed Soft Grippers
What’s the easiest way to pick up soft-bodied sea creatures? 3D-printed soft robots. Watch as an interdisciplinary team of marine biologists, engineers, and roboticists create custom-made soft grippers on-board the Schmidt Ocean Institute’s R/V Falkor, allowing them to safely sample many types of delicate sea life in the Phoenix Islands Protected Area (PIPA). Credit: Wyss Institute...
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BioBits
Researchers at the Wyss Institute, MIT, and Northwestern University have collaborated to create “BioBits,” a low-cost, shelf-stable educational kit to teach synthetic and molecular biology in K-12 classrooms. The kit utilizes freeze-dried cell-free reactions that eliminate the need for growing living cells in order to perform biological experiments. Different modules in the kit teach students...
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RAD Sampler: Device for investigating delicate marine organisms
Like an underwater pokéball, this origami-inspired sampling device folds up into a container for capturing delicate marine organisms. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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HAMR: Robotic Cockroach for Underwater Explorations
This video shows how the HAMR can transition from land to water, paddle on the surface of water, or sink to the ground to start walking again just as it would on dry land. Credit: Yufeng Chen, Neel Doshi, and Benjamin Goldberg/Harvard University
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FLIPS: Ferrofluid-Containing Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces
As a magnetic field is applied and moved, the ferrofluid component of FLIPS responds dynamically, allowing the surface to be endlessly reconfigured. Credit: Harvard SEAS
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TEDx Beacon Street Salon: Reversing Human Aging
Wyss Institute Core Faculty member George Church, Ph.D., was the opening speaker at the TEDx Beacon Street saloon event hosted at the Franklin Park Zoo. He presented from inside the tapir cage! Talk summary: Animals can be an extremely useful resource in prolonging human lives and promoting general health. For example, there are organs in...
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Humans of the Wyss – Faculty Edition with Katia Bertoldi
Our new interview series, “Humans of the Wyss – Faculty Edition,” features Wyss Institute faculty members discussing how they think about their work, the influences that help shape them as scientists, and their collaborations at the Wyss Institute and beyond. In the first edition of the series, Lindsay Brownell, Wyss Institute Communications team member, talks...
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Toehold Exchange Probes
This animation explains how toehold probes consisting of a “probe strand” and a “protector strand” are assembled and how they leverage thermodynamic principles to allow the specific detection of a correct target sequence, or to prevent them from detecting a spurious target sequence that can differ from the correct target sequence by only a single...
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Catalytic Nanoarchitectures for Clean Air
The Wyss Institute is developing a new type of coating for catalytic converters that, inspired by the nanoscale structure of a butterfly’s wing, can dramatically reduce the cost and improve the performance of air purification technologies, making them more accessible to all. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Soft Exosuit: Human-in-the-Loop Bayesian Optimization
Researchers from the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS have developed a human-in-the-loop Bayesian optimization method to personalize the hip assistance that a soft exosuit can provide. The optimized assistance helps reduce metabolic cost compared to walking without the device, or with the device not further personalized. Credit: Harvard Biodesign Lab/Harvard Agile Robotics Lab Learn more...
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Tough Gel Adhesives
Inspired by the mucus secreted by the Dusky Arion slug, researchers at the Wyss Institute have developed a surgical adhesive that can adhere to wet and dynamic surfaces inside the body, including the heart, lung, tendons, cartilage, and bone. Coupled with a novel tough hydrogel, which can undergo huge amounts of deformation without breaking, this...
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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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Kirigami Crawler
Researchers at the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS have built a robot inspired by snakes that uses kirigami cuts in its ‘skin’ to grip the ground when it is inflated. Credit: Harvard SEAS
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Meet HAMR, the Cockroach-Inspired Robot
The Harvard Ambulatory Microrobot - nicknamed HAMR - is a versatile robot that can run at high speeds, jump, climb, turn sharply, carry payloads and fall from great distances without being injured.
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The milliDelta Robot
Delta Robots are comprised of three articulating arms connected to an output stage. They are extremely precise and agile, and can be used for “pick & place” and 3D Printing. Researchers at the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS have developed a millimeter-scale delta robot, the “milliDelta.” Possible applications at this scale include microassembly, micromanipulation, and...
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New Wyss Institute Initiative – 3D Organ Engineering
Wyss Institute Core Faculty members Christopher Chen and Jennifer Lewis describe the Wyss Institute’s new initiative focused on organ engineering, which leverages our expertise in biomaterials, tissue engineering, three dimensional biofabrication, and stem cell development.
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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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Origami-Inspired Artificial Muscles
Artificial muscles could make soft robots safer and stronger. Researchers at the Wyss Institute, Harvard SEAS, and MIT CSAIL have developed a novel design approach for origami-inspired artificial muscles, capable of lifting 1000x its own weight. The muscles are made of a compressible skeleton and air or fluid medium encased in a flexible skin, and...
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Primer Exchange Reaction
In this video, Jocelyn Kishi illustrates how Primer Exchange Reaction (PER) cascades work to autonomously create programmable long single-stranded DNA molecules. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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What Is BIOMOD?
BIOMOD is a biomolecular design competition for students created by the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Each year BIOMOD holds a Jamboree, an annual conference at which all BIOMOD teams convene to present their work from the summer. This year’s Jamboree will take place in Genentech Hall at UCSF in San Francisco,...
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Aerial-Aquatic Microrobot
Inspired by insects, researchers at the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS have developed a robot capable of flying…and swimming. Once the robot swims to the surface of the water, surrounding water is collected in a buoyancy chamber. Within the chamber, an electrolytic plate produced oxyhydrogen. This gives the robot extra buoyancy, which enables it to...
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Science On Tap
During this live studio recording of Science On Tap, Donald Ingber, M.D., Ph.D. will explain to host Graham Chedd why the name of the institute he heads at Harvard, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, nicely sums up its goal. Dr. Ingber’s stellar career has focused on turning nature’s solutions to engineering problems into...
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The Beginning
The struggle for supremacy has begun. But only one will be victor. Only one will dictate the future for generations to come… Watch the new official trailer now.
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Auto-cyclic Proximity Recording
This video explains how “Auto-cycling Proximity Recording” works to identify pairs of nearby molecular targets and how it can be used as a tool to decipher the geometry of 3-dimensional engineered and natural molecules. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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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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Fouling Marine Fouling
Marine fouling occurs when organisms attach themselves to underwater objects like boats, rope, pipes and building structures. Mussels are one of the biggest culprits. Once attached, they are difficult to remove, leading to operational downtime, increased energy use and damage. Paints and coatings are currently used to prevent marine fouling, but are frequently toxin-based and not...
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Battery-Free Folding Robots
Wireless, battery-free folding robots are powered by electromagnetic fields, enabling them to move without bulky batteries. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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CRISPR-Cas: Molecular Recording
In this video, Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School researchers George Church and Seth Shipman explain how they engineered a new CRISPR system-based technology that enables the chronological recording of digital information, like that representing still and moving images, in living bacteria. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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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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Soft Exosuit for Running
Building upon previous soft exosuit technology, researchers at the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS have developed a soft exosuit for running. This exosuit applies forces to the hip joint using thin, flexible wires, assisting the muscles during each stride. Using an off-board actuation system, compared to not wearing the exosuit, this exosuit can reduce the...
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How Humans Walk…With Robots
Researchers at the Wyss Institute and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital shed light on how humans respond – or do not respond – to forces applied by rehabilitative robots. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Wyss Focus: Immuno-Materials
Wyss Core Faculty, Dave Mooney, explains our new Immuno-Materials Focus Area, which adds a new dimension to immunotherapy in that it harnesses materials to make treatments more efficient and effective. These material-based systems are capable of modulating immune cells and releasing them into the body where they can treat diseases.
$Radhika Nagpal speaks at TED2017 - The Future You, April 24-28, 2017, Vancouver, BC, Canada. Photo: Ryan Lash / TED$

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TED: What intelligent machines can learn from a school of fish
Science fiction visions of the future show us AI built to replicate our way of thinking — but what if we modeled it instead on the other kinds of intelligence found in nature? Robotics engineer Radhika Nagpal studies the collective intelligence displayed by insects and fish schools, seeking to understand their rules of engagement. In...
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Podocyte Cells: Kidney-on-a-Chip
This video shows a 3-dimensional rendering of the glomerulus-on-a-chip with human stem cell-derived mature podocytes (in green) grown and differentiated in one channel (shown on top) and that extend their processes through the modeled glomerulus basement membrane towards glomerular vascular cells (in magenta) in the parallel running channel (shown on the bottom). Credit: Wyss Institute...
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ArtScience Talks @ Le Lab – Seeing Is Believing: Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines
Wyss Core Faculty member David Mooney presents a talk with Mary Mooney, titled Seeing Is Believing: Therapeutic Cancer Vaccines. Marshaling a patientÍs immune system to recognize and destroy cancerous cells is an exciting strategy to attack cancer, and this talk will explore materials that engage the immune system through science and artistic representation. Mary K....
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How plant stems grow into different shapes
It is well known that as plants grow, their stems and shoots respond to outside signals like light and gravity. But if plants all have similar stimuli, why are there so many different plant shapes? Using simple mathematical ideas, Harvard University researchers constructed a framework that explains and quantifies the different shapes of plant stems....
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Wyss Study: Memory Genes
Researchers at the Wyss Institute and the Personal Genome Project (PGP) are using Lumosity games to evaluate memory functions and response times. The genomes of high performers will be sequenced, with the goal of uncovering the relationship between genetics, memory, attention, and reaction speed. This video featuring George Church, Core Faculty of the Wyss Institute and Professor...
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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 Printing Ceramic Foam
This video shows the 3D printing process that adds layer upon layer of the foam link to create a 3D porous ceramic honeycomb pattern. This new capability is an important step toward generating porous materials for lightweight structures, thermal insulation, tissue scaffolds and other applications. Credit: Lori Sanders
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Soft Robotic Heart Sleeve: In Vitro
Replicating heart pressure and contraction in vitro, the soft robotic heart sleeve with actuators arranged around a fluid-filled sac is able to rhythmically contract to each time pump a defined fluid volume into the attached tubing. Credit: Harvard SEAS
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Reconfigurable Materials
This video shows how a reconfigurable model structure generated with the teams predictive method can be drawn into different shapes that might perform very different functions. Credit: Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
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2016 8th Wyss Retreat Open Animation
The 8th Annual Wyss Institute Retreat. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Shear-Thinning Biomaterial: Catheter Injection
This movie shows the solid state of the shear-thinning biomaterial immediately after release from the catheter into an aqueous solution (00:04). The STB is cohesive and remains as one solid piece throughout the injection process. There is no noticeable dissolution of the STB into the solution, suggesting it is stable immediately after being discharged from...
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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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Smoking Human Lung Small Airway-on-a-Chip
In this video, Wyss Founding Director Donald Ingber and Technology Development Fellow Kambez Benam explain how the integrated smoking device mimics normal cigarette smoke exposure and how it can impact research into the causes of COPD and into new biomarkers and therapeutics. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Bioprinting: The Kidney’s Proximal Tubules
In this video, see how the Wyss Institute team has advanced bioprinting to the point of being able to fabricate a functional subunit of a kidney. Credit: Wyss Institute at 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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Mechanotherapeutics: From Drugs to Wearables
The Wyss Institute’s 7th annual international symposium focused on advances in the field of Mechanobiology that have resulted in the development of new types of pharmaceuticals, drug delivery systems, engineered tissues, and wearable therapeutic devices that leverage physical forces or target mechanical signaling pathways as a core part of their mechanism of action. Organized by...
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Octobot: A Soft, Autonomous Robot
The Octobot is the first entirely soft, autonomous robot. It is made by a combination of embedded 3D printing, modeling, and soft lithography. Inspired by real octopuses, the Octobot has no rigid components. It is powered by a chemical reaction and controlled with a microfluidic logic that directs the flow of fuel. The logic circuit...
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Super Resolution Discrete Molecular Imaging Animation
See in this animation, how Discrete Molecular Imaging (DMI) uses DNA nanotechnology to reveal densely packed molecular features in structures similar in size as single protein molecules. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Discrete Molecular Imaging
Wyss Institute Core Faculty member Peng Yin and his co-worker Mingjie Dai explain in this video, how Discrete Molecular Imaging (DMI) can be used to enhance their DNA-PAINT super-resolution imaging platform to visualize features on a single-molecule scale. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Liquid Gated Membranes
The first part of this animation compares the transmembrane pressure (TMP) between a standard filter and a liquid gated membrane filter (depicted by pressure gauge in bottom right corner). The second part of the animation shows the tendency of each system to clog up due to fouling. The liquid gated membrane filter results in a...
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Robobee: Saving Energy While in the Air
The RoboBee, pioneered at the Harvard Microrobotics Lab, uses an electrode patch and a foam mount that absorbs shock to perch on surfaces and conserve energy in flight. Credit: Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS)
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Efficient Recovery of Stem Cell Sheets
See in this video how an intact sheet of mesenchymal stem cells, stained with a violet dye, can be lifted off the infused polymer substrate in the culture dish using a filter paper and transferred to a new surface. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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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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3D Printing Metal in Midair
In this video, see the laser-assisted method developed by Wyss Core Faculty member Jennifer Lewis that allows metal to be 3D printed in midair. Credit: Lewis Lab / Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Printing Vascular Tissue
Printing vessel vasculature is essential for sustaining functional living tissues. Until now, bioengineers have had difficulty building thick tissues, lacking a method to embed vascular networks. A 3D bioprinting method invented at the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS embeds a grid of vasculature into thick tissue laden with human stem cells and connective matrix. Printed...
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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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4D Printing: Shapeshifting Architectures
A team at the Wyss Institute and Harvard SEAS has developed a new microscale printing method to create transformable objects. These “4D-printed” objects go a step beyond 3D printing to incorporate a fourth dimension: time. The method was inspired by the way plants change shape over time in response to environmental stimuli. This orchid-shaped structure...
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Wyss Institute: A Technology Revolution
There is a technology revolution – a revolution inspired by nature, built upon collaboration, self-assembly and disruptive innovation. The Wyss Institute is crossing boundaries and disrupting the status quo to pioneer new technologies, new devices, and new therapeutics that harness the power of life itself. There is a technology revolution and it is happening at...
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Small Airway-on-a-Chip: Modeling COPD and Asthma
Development of new therapeutics for chronic lung diseases have been hindered by the inability to study them in vitro. To address this challenge, Wyss Institute researchers used their Organ-on-a-Chip technology to produce a microfluidic ‘human lung small airway-on-a-chip.’ The device, which is composed a clear rubber material, is lined by living Human lung small airway...
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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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CRISPR-Cas9: Safeguarding Gene Drives
In this animation, learn how effective safeguarding mechanisms developed at the Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School can be applied to ensure gene drive research is done responsibly in the laboratory. These safeguards enable responsible scientific investigation into how gene drives could one day be leveraged for the greater good of human health, agriculture, and...
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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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Pathogen-Extracting Sepsis Therapy
This video explains how sepsis induced by an overload of blood pathogens can be treated with the Wyss Institute’s improved pathogen-extracting, spleen-mimicking device. Blood is flown through a cartridge filled with hollow fibers that are coated with a genetically engineered blood protein inspired by a naturally-occurring human molecule called Mannose Binding Lectin (MBL). MBL is...
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Jumping on Water: Robotic Water Strider
In this video, watch how novel robotic insects developed by a team of Seoul National University and Harvard scientists can jump directly off water’s surface. The robots emulate the natural locomotion of water strider insects, which skim on and jump off the surface of water. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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3D Printed Soft Jumping Robot
Using a multi-material 3D printer for manufacturing allowed Wyss Institute researchers to fabricate the jumping robot in one uninterrupted job, seamlessly transitioning from rigid core components to a soft exterior in a single print session. It’s first ever robot to be 3D printed with layers of material gradients, making it extremely durable and giving the...
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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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CRISPR-Cas9: Gene Target Troubleshooting
In this animation, learn how a “library on library” approach was used to create a software algorithm that can predict the best way to target any specific gene. Using the most effective RNA sequence, which can be selected using the novel software’s ranking and scoring algorithm, the gene editing mechanism known as CRISPR-Cas9 can be...
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Popup Challenge: Help Revolutionize Popup Robotics
Join the Wyss Institute Popup Challenge, a design contest based around the laminate design techniques outlined at popupcad.org. We hope to grow the community of people who can design, build, and operate laminate devices and micromechanisms. If you are a student considering using popups for a class project, a researcher who has an application for...
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Meet Metamorpho: A Robot Simulating Biological Transformation
Metamorpho is a robotic platform designed for emulating the developmental induction of locomotor patterns across all animals. This video shows a robotic system with a transforming body morphology that simulates the biological transformation of a tadpole to a frog. Like a tadpole, Metamorpho starts to swim with tail alone while legs receive a feedback signal...
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Gastrointestinal Re-Programming
In this animation, see an example of how genetically engineered microbes being developed by researchers at the Wyss Institute could detect and treat a wide range of gastrointestinal illnesses and conditions. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Antibiotic Efficacy
In this video, Wyss Institute Core Faculty member James Collins and Michael Lobritz explain how antibiotics can have vastly different effects on pathogenic bacteria and suggest potential implications for improving antibiotic treatments in infected patients. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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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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Environmental Impact: Chitin-Inhibiting Pesticides Called into Question
Chitin, a molecule that serves a purpose in the developmental biology of insects, fungi and shrimp, has long been a target of growth-inhibiting pesticides due to the belief that it did not exist in vertebrates. For decades, chitin-inhibiting pesticides have stunted the growth of insects and fungi to protect valuable crops. Now, research from the...
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Cas9: As a Transcriptional Activator
In this technical animation, Wyss Institute researchers instruct how they engineered a Cas9 protein to create a powerful and robust tool for activating gene expression. The novel method enables Cas9 to switch a gene from off to on and has the potential to precisely induce on-command expression of any of the countless genes in the...
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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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Fluid Gate
In this video, the fluid-based gating mechanism separates gas and water. The fluid-filled pores system leverages pressurization to control the opening and closing of its liquid gates, making it extremely precise at separating mixed materials. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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DNA Nanoswitches
Gel electrophoresis, a common laboratory process, sorts DNA or other small proteins by size and shape using electrical currents to move molecules through small pores in gel. The process can be combined with novel DNA nanoswitches, developed by Wyss Associate Faculty member Wesley Wong, to allow for the simple and inexpensive investigation of life’s most...
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Human Organs-On-Chips
Wyss Institute researchers and a multidisciplinary team of collaborators have engineered microchips that recapitulate the microarchitecture and functions of living human organs, including the lung, intestine, kidney, skin, bone marrow and blood-brain barrier. These microchips, called ‘organs-on-chips’, offer a potential alternative to traditional animal testing. Each individual organ-on-chip is composed of a clear flexible polymer...
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Wyss Institute: Stay Inspired
The Wyss Institute has fueled a rapid uptick in translational technologies propelled into real-world applications, as was evident by the presentation of the year’s highlights during the Institute’s Sixth Annual Retreat. The Retreat was held November 17, 2014 at Boston’s Seaport World Trade Center and was attended by roughly 600 members of the Institute community....
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Gene Editing Mechanism of CRISPR-Cas9
In this animation, learn how CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology can be used to precisely disrupt and modify specific genes. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University.
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Designing Fusion-Protein Therapies
In this video, watch the new computational model in action as it simulates the behavior of a fusion-protein drug molecule after the targeting protein has attached to a cell. Developed by Wyss researchers, this model helps design more effective biologic drugs while eliminating drug candidates that are prone to causing side effects. Credit: Harvard’s Wyss...
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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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Bioinspired Blood Repellent Coating
In this video, Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber, Core Faculty member Joanna Aizenberg, Staff Scientist Dan Leslie and Postdoctoral Fellow Anna Waterhouse explain how a coating they developed using FDA-approved materials could prevent blood clotting in medical devices without the use of blood thinners. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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BIND Biofilm
In this video Wyss Institute Core Faculty member Neel Joshi and Postdoctoral Fellow Peter Nguyen describe how their protein engineering system called BIND (Biofilm-Integrated Nanofiber Display) could be used to redefine biofilms as large-scale production platforms for biomaterials that can be programmed to provide functions not possible with existing materials. An animation depicts how it...
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Gyrification: How the Brain Got its Folds
A team led by Wyss Institute Core Faculty member L. Mahadevan used numerical simulations and a physical gel model to answer an age-old question that has vexed scientists for years: how did the outer layer of the mammalian brain (gray matter) become so convoluted atop the brain’s inner white matter? It turns out that at...
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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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CRISPR-Cas9: Gene Drives
This animation explains how an emerging technology called “gene drives” may be used to potentially spread particular genomic alterations through targeted wild populations over many generations. It uses mosquitoes as an example of a target species – and illustrates how the versatile genome editing tool called CRISPR makes it possible. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard...
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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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3D Printing: Cellular Composites
Materials scientists at Harvard University have created lightweight cellular composites via 3D printing. These fiber-reinforced epoxy composites mimic the structure and performance of balsa wood. Because the fiber fillers align along the printing direction, their local orientation can be exquisitely controlled. These 3D composites may be useful for wind turbine, automotive and aerospace applications, where...
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2014 Graeme Clark Oration
Graeme Clark Oration 2014, The Next Technology Wave: Biologically Inspired Engineering, delivered by Dr Donald Ingber, Founding Director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, at the Melbourne Convention Centre, Thursday 5 June 2014.
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Bioinspired Approach to Sepsis Therapy
Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber, Senior Staff Scientist Michael Super and Technology Development Fellow Joo Kang explain how they engineered the Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) protein to bind to a wide range of sepsis-causing pathogens and then safely remove the pathogens from the bloodstream using a novel microfluidic spleen-like device. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard...
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Implantable Cancer Vaccine
This animation explains how the Wyss Institute cancer vaccine technology developed in collaboration with biologists, clinicians and researchers at the Institute, the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences works by reprogramming the immune system to reject cancer cells. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Bone Marrow-on-a-Chip
Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber, Postdoctoral Fellow Yu-suke Torisawa, and Researcher Catherine Spina explain how and why a they built bone marrow-on-a-chip, and how they got it to act like whole living marrow and manufacture blood cells. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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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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Tough Gel
A team at the Wyss Institute is honing a tough, rubbery hydrogel initially developed at Harvards School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The gel is 90 percent water, yet it stretches without breaking to more than 20 times its original length and recoils like rubber, the researchers first reported in Nature in 2012. In fact,...
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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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Wyss Institute: A Vision for the Future
The Wyss Institute was born out of a vision for the future – a start up in the midst of the world’s greatest academic environment that does high-risk research, takes chances, and impacts the real world in the near term. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Shrinking Gel
When the temperature rises to just below body temperature, this biocompatible gel shrinks dramatically within minutes, bringing tooth-precursor cells (green) closer together. Credit: Basma Hashmi
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Sustainability: The Ultimate Challenge
In the past century plastic has transformed modern-day life on our planet, but is it sustainable? We produce 300 million tons of plastic per year* and recycle only 3%**. Are we content that the other 97% collects in oceans, landfills and the food chain? The challenge is clear: we will drown in plastic if we...
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Chitosan Bioplastic
In this video, the team grew a California Blackeye pea plant in soil enriched with its chitosan bioplastic over a three-week period – demonstrating the material’s potential to encourage plant growth once it is returned to the environment. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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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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TERMES
Inspired by termites, the TERMES robots act independently but collectively. They can carry bricks, build staircases, and then climb them to add bricks to a structure. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Bioprinting: Building in Blood Vessels
Building in blood vessels. Then they addressed a big challenge in tissue engineering: embedding 3D vascular networks. They developed a ‘fugitive’ ink that can easily be printed, then suctioned off to create open microchannels that can then be populated with blood-vessel-lining cells to allow blood to flow. Read more: wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/141 Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard...
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Bioprinting: Building with Bio-Inks
Building with bio-inks. Using their custom-built printer, the fugitive ink for the vasculature, and other biological inks containing extracellular matrix and human cells, the researchers printed a 3D tissue construct. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Bioprinting: Building Intricate Structures
Building intricate structures. The team first designed a custom printer that can precisely co-print multiple materials in 3D to create intricate heterogeneous patterns. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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New coating turns glass into superglass
A transparent new coating makes ordinary glass tough, ultraslippery, and self-cleaning. The coating is based on SLIPS — the world’s slipperiest synthetic substance. Here, a droplet of dyed octane quickly beads up and rolls off a watch glass with the new coating. To learn more, go to Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Tiny 3D-Printed Battery
In this video, a 3D-printer nozzle narrower than a human hair lays down a specially formulated “ink” layer by layer to build a microbattery’s anode from the ground up. Unlike ink in an office inkjet printer, which comes out as droplets of liquid and wets a piece of paper, these 3D-printer inks are specially formulated...
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Building 3D Structures with DNA Bricks
The nanofabrication technique, called ‘DNA-brick self-assembly,’ uses short, synthetic strands of DNA that work like interlocking Lego bricks. It capitalizes on the ability to program DNA to form into predesigned shapes thanks to the underlying ‘recipe’ of DNA base pairs. This animation accurately shows how the DNA strands self assemble to build a structure.DNA Nanostructures...
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NanoRx: Clot-Busting Nanotherapeutic
In this animation, learn how the Wyss Institute clot-busting nanotherapeutic is activated by fluid high shear force – which occurs where blood flows through vessels narrowed by obstruction – to specifically target clots and dissolve them away. By pairing this drug with an intra-arterial device that restores blood flow to complete obstructions, the drug-device combination...
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MeTro Hydrogels
An international team led by the Wyss Institute recently used microfabrication techniques to design a new micropatterned hydrogel that shows great promise for tissue engineering — cardiac tissue in particular. It incorporates an elastic protein called tropoelastin, which is found in all elastic human tissues. The Wyss Institute’s Ali Khademhosseini discusses the research. Credit: Wyss...
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RoboBee: Controlled flight of a robotic insect
Inspired by the biology of a fly, with submillimeter-scale anatomy and two wafer-thin wings that flap at 120 times per second, robotic insects, or RoboBees, achieve vertical takeoff, hovering, and steering. The tiny robots flap their wings using piezoelectric actuators — strips of ceramic that expand and contract when an electric field is applied. Thin...
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Wyss Institute: The Adventure Continues
Wyss Institute Retreat 2012. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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NeuroAssess
A team at Harvard’s Wyss Institute and Beth Israel Deaconess have developed a computer tablet application that could rapidly and quantitatively assess neuromuscular performance. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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DNA Bricks: Molecular Animation
The nanofabrication technique, called ‘DNA-brick self-assembly,’ uses short, synthetic strands of DNA that work like interlocking Lego bricks. It capitalizes on the ability to program DNA to form into predesigned shapes thanks to the underlying “recipe” of DNA base pairs. Animation created by Digizyme for the Wyss Institute. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Researchers mimic pulmonary edema in Lung-on-a-Chip
The Wyss Institute’s human breathing lung-on-a-chip, made using human lung and blood vessel cells, acts much like a lung in a human body. A vacuum re-creates the way the lungs physically expand and contract during breathing. As reported in Science Translational Medicine on November 7, 2012, Wyss researchers have now mimicked a human disease –...
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Information Storage in DNA
George Church and Sriram Kosuri discuss the benefits of using DNA as a storage medium and the approach they developed. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Clot-busting nanotherapeutic
Wyss Core Faculty member Donald E. Ingber describes the clot-busting nanotherapeutic. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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SLIPS
‘SLIPS’ technology, inspired by the slippery pitcher plant that repels almost every type of liquid and solid, is a unique approach to coating industrial and medical surfaces that is based on nano/microstructured porous material infused with a lubricating fluid. By locking in water and other fluids, SLIPS technology creates slick, exceptionally repellent and robust self-cleaning...
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Vibrating Mattress: Preventing Infant Apnea
What if we could prevent infant apnea? Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Making Structures with DNA “Building Blocks”
Researchers at the Wyss Institute have developed a method for building complex nanostructures out of short synthetic strands of DNA. Called single-stranded tiles (SSTs), these interlocking DNA “building blocks,” akin to Legos, can be programmed to assemble themselves into precisely designed shapes, such as letters and emoticons. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Magnetic Yeast
In this video, Wyss Core Faculty member Pamela Silver describes how her team at the Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School induced magnetic sensitivity in a non-magnetic organism. This technology could potentially be used to magnetize a variety of different cell types in medical, industrial and research applications. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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DNA Nanorobot: Cell-Targeted, Payload-Delivering
This video describes a cell-targeted, payload-delivering DNA nanorobot developed at the Wyss Institute that can trigger targeted therapeutic responses. This novel technology could potentially seek out cancer cells and cause them to self-destruct. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Termite-inspired robots
Inspired by termites and their building activities, the TERMES project is working toward developing a swarm construction system in which robots cooperate to build 3D structures much larger than themselves. The current system consists of simple but autonomous mobile robots and specialized passive blocks; the robot is able to manipulate blocks to build tall structures,...
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Wyss Institute: Self-Assembly
Wyss Institute Retreat 2011. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Introduction to Programmable Nanorobotics
What if we could build programmable nanorobots to attack disease? Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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SLIPS: Keeping Ice Away
What if we could design surfaces that prevent ice formation? ‘SLIPS’ technology, inspired by the slippery pitcher plant that repels almost every type of liquid and solid, is a unique approach to coating industrial and medical surfaces that is based on nano/microstructured porous material infused with a lubricating fluid. By locking in water and other...
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Introduction to Implantable Cancer Vaccine
What if we could prevent and treat cancer with a simple vaccine? Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Introduction to Organs-on-a-Chip
What if we could test drugs without animal models? Wyss Institute researchers and a multidisciplinary team of collaborators have engineered microchips that recapitulate the microarchitecture and functions of living human organs, including the lung, intestine, kidney, skin, bone marrow and blood-brain barrier. These microchips, called ‘organs-on-chips’, offer a potential alternative to traditional animal testing. Each...
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Introduction to Sepsis Diagnostic
What if we could diagnose sepsis in just hours, not days? Wyss Institute researchers discuss their approach to a rapid sepsis diagnostic. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Wyss Institute: Our Model
What if we could transform the future? This video explores the Wyss Institute model of translation. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University
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Lung-on-a-Chip
Combining microfabrication techniques with modern tissue engineering, lung-on-a-chip offers a new in vitro approach to drug screening by mimicking the complicated mechanical and biochemical behaviors of a human lung. This extended version of the video includes our findings when we mimicked pulmonary edema on the chip. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

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