Wyss InstituteVideo/Animation – Wyss Institute

Cure ALD – Behind the Research | Alex LeNail – Safer Gene Therapy

Jessica Leff — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 15:26:58 +0000

Learn about Wyss Postdoctoral Fellow Alex LeNail‘s background and how he plans to develop a safer gene therapy for ALD (adrenoleukodystrophy) patients. If successful, this could go to clinical trials and give families hope for a cure. This video series tells the story of the scientists behind the breakthroughs, and why community-driven fundraising is the engine behind their discoveries. …

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Building protection against infectious diseases with nanostructured vaccines

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

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

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20-ish Questions with Christopher Chen

Jessica Leff — Fri, 06 Feb 2026 14:00:53 +0000

20-ish Questions shows a different side of Wyss Institute faculty, touching on aspects of their personal life, hobbies, interests, as well as their research. This round follows 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 at Boston University.

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AVATARs for Astronaut Health Are Heading to Space!

Jessica Leff — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 15:04:20 +0000

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 contribute to…

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20-ish Questions with David J. Mooney

Jessica Leff — Fri, 19 Dec 2025 13:41:58 +0000

20-ish Questions shows a different side of Wyss Institute faculty, touching on aspects of their personal life, hobbies, interests, as well as their research. This round follows David 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 Bioengineering at the Harvard John A.

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When Matter Makes Decisions: Michael Levin on the Intelligence of Form

Jessica Leff — Mon, 24 Nov 2025 18:39:49 +0000

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 physical space. Discover how his team…

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20-ish Questions with Ellen Roche

Jessica Leff — Fri, 21 Nov 2025 14:00:10 +0000

20-ish Questions shows a different side of Wyss Institute faculty, touching on aspects of their personal life, hobbies, interests, as well as their research. This round follows 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 for Medical Engineering and Science…

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George Church on Widespread Genomic Sequencing, Xenotransplantation, and Shepherding Change

Jessica Leff — Mon, 17 Nov 2025 20:46:55 +0000

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

Jessica Leff — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 15:05:20 +0000

20-ish Questions shows a different side of Wyss Institute faculty, touching on aspects of their personal life, hobbies, interests, as well as their research. This round follows 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 Developmental Biology, and a Distinguished Professor…

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Crossing the barrier: Wyss Brain Targeting Program is delivering on its promise

Seth Kroll — Wed, 22 Oct 2025 13:18:46 +0000

By Seth Kroll (BOSTON) — Launched in 2019 as an ambitious idea, the Wyss Brain Targeting Program was designed to address a critical challenge in neuroscience and brain health: how to safely and effectively deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). The BBB is a tightly regulated gateway that protects the brain from toxins and pathogens but also prevents nearly all large-molecule drugs…

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