Startups and Licensing

Ropirio Therapeutics

Ropirio Therapeutics is commercializing a novel therapeutic that directly modulates the opening and closing of lymph vessels, restoring drainage even in the presence of inflammation.

Licensed Wyss Technologies

Ropirio: Novel Treatments Targeting the Lymphatic System

Translation News

Ropirio launches from Wyss Institute to develop first-in-class lymphatic medicines

Breaking

Breaking, a plastic degradation and synthetic biology company, launched in 2024 based on a core discovery made at the Wyss Institute of a microbe that can break down plastic waste.

Licensed Wyss Technologies

Plastivores: Plastic-Degrading Super-Microbes and Enzymes

Translation News

Plastic Degradation Company, Breaking, Emerges from Stealth with Naturally-Derived Solution to Degrade Multiple Plastics with $10.5M in Seed Funding

WurQ

Wyss startup WurQ launched in 2023 to bring AI and exercise science to existing wearables to quantify physical work, and assess the amount, quality, and intensity.

Licensed Wyss Technologies

Wearable Technology for True Movement Quantification

Circe Bioscience

Circe Bioscience spun out of the Wyss Institute in 2023 to commercialize their gas-fermentation-based technology that uses engineered microbes to convert greenhouse gases into fats for use in food products.

Licensed Wyss Technologies

Circe: Transforming greenhouse gases into valuable products with microbes

Gameto

Gameto is using the Wyss Institute’s fully human ovarian organoid technology to develop in vitro models of the female reproductive system, enabling the creation of novel treatments for infertility and other problems in women’s health.

Licensed Wyss Technologies

Human Ovarian Organoids to Improve Women’s Health

Translation News

Gameto licenses Wyss Institute’s technology for growing human ovaries from Harvard University

Unravel Biosciences

Unravel Biosciences licensed the Wyss drug discovery platform technology CogniXense to identify and create drugs to treat central nervous system disorders. The company customized the technology to create their proprietary BioNAV™ platform, which uses transcriptome and proteome data from Rett syndrome patients as the starting point for identifying and developing effective drugs.

Licensed Wyss Technologies

CogniXense: A Platform for Rapid Drug Repurposing

Translation News

Unravel Biosciences licenses Wyss Institute platform technology from Harvard and Tufts University to decode, model, and treat complex diseases

EnPlusOne Biosciences

In 2022, the Wyss Institute and Northpond Labs partnered to launch RNA solutions company EnPlusOne Biosciences. The startup aims to leverage the Wyss-developed eRNA technology for controlled enzymatic RNA oligonucleotide synthesis to bring a versatile, sustainable, and scalable RNA synthesis technologies to market to unlock the development of new RNA drugs, vaccines, and gene-editing therapies.

Licensed Wyss Technologies

eRNA: Enzymatic RNA synthesis for better drugs

Translation News

Wyss Institute at Harvard University partners with Northpond Labs to launch RNA solutions company EnPlusOne Biosciences

Stata DX

Stata DX licensed the eRapid portable electrochemical sensing technology to develop diagnostics for neurological, cardiovascular, and renal diseases with a first focus on building a point-of-care platform for difficult-to-detect neurological disorders.

Translation News

Harvard Wyss Institute’s eRapid multiplexed biosensor technology licensed to StataDX to enable new diagnostics for neurological, cardiovascular, and renal diseases

AcousticaBio

AcousticaBio is using its proprietary fluid processing technology to transform antibody infusions from an in-hospital IV treatment to a painless subcutaneous injection that can be administered anywhere, improving the clinical care of millions of patients. 

GC Therapeutics

GC Therapeutics uses synthetic biology to program stem cells into any cell type with best-in-class efficiency, speed, and scalability. Developed at the Wyss Institute and licensed in 2022, their technology dictates cells’ fates in a single step and has been validated for many applications. 

3EO Health

3EO Health startup uses the Wyss Institute’s user-friendly diagnostic nucleic acid detection technology together with additional components to build a digital platform that may empower patients with self-testing capabilities and access to results, information, and clinical partners.

Translation News

3EO Health licenses Wyss Institute technology from Harvard, aiming to develop at-home molecular testing with PCR-grade sensitivity and antigen test-level cost

64x Bio

64x Bio is transforming the future of cell and gene therapy manufacturing with high-throughput discovery and design of enhanced cell lines for next-generation biomanufacturing and therapeutics.

Translation News

64x Bio Lands $55 Million for Gene-Therapy Tech

64x Bio Emerges from Stealth to Drive an Evolution in Cell and Gene Therapy Manufacturing

Pluto Biosciences

With a license from Harvard, Pluto is commercializing OrbitSeq, a collaborative online platform that allows researchers across academic and industry labs to easily manage, analyze, and share their data with each other, helping to speed up the pace of science.

Translation News

Pluto Biosciences launches from Harvard’s Wyss Institute to speed scientific discovery

Imago Rehab

Wyss startup Imago Rehab is commercializing the Institute’s soft robotic glove technology for at-home rehabilitation for stroke survivors.

Trestle Biotherapeutics

Wyss startup Trestle Biotherapeutics is commercializing a suite of stem cell- and 3D bioprinting-based kidney regenerative medicine technologies developed at the Wyss Institute, Harvard SEAS, and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, to engineer functional kidney tissue for renal repair and replacement therapy.

Translation News

Harvard University licenses kidney engineering technology to Trestle Biotherapeutics to facilitate new kidney replacement therapies

Desktop Health

Desktop Health, a healthcare business within Desktop Metal Inc. is developing PhonoGraft^TM as a 3D printed eardrum-restoring regenerative medicine solution. Desktop Health acquired Beacon Bio, a startup formed by researchers at the Wyss Institute, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, and Massachusetts Eye and Ear who de-risked the hearing-restoration technology.

Translation News

Harvard’s eardrum-restoring PhonoGraft enters commercial development

Rhinostics

The Massachusetts-based Rhinostics startup is developing the Wyss Institute’s and Harvard Medical School’s nasal swab collection technology as a key component of an automated and rapid molecular analysis workflow to improve the patient-to-diagnosis pipeline for infectious diseases including COVID-19.

Translation News

Harvard University licenses its nasal swab collection technology, developed at the Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School, to Mass. startup Rhinostics

2022 Edison Best New Product Awards Finalists

Rhinostics Announces First Close of its Series A-2 Financing Round, Led by Shadow Capital

Spear Bio

Spear Bio launched to empower disease research, patient care, and drug development by commercializing the Institute’s DNA nanotechnology-driven small-sample, ultrasensitive, protein-detection technology.

Translation News

Wyss Institute at Harvard University launches SPEAR Bio to empower disease research, patient care, and drug development with its small-sample, ultrasensitive, protein-detection technology

Tender Food

Tender Food is commercializing a nanofiber-spinning technology developed at the Wyss Institute to produce alternative meats whose texture is more like the real thing.

Translation News

Making steak from vegetable protein

Christophe Chantre of Tender Food is making a meatier plant-based meat

Manifold Bio

Building upon research done at the Wyss, Manifold Bio is building a protein barcoding platform to bring the power of multiplexed measurement to development of protein therapeutics.

Translation News

Manifold Bio Raises Seed Round to Bring Massively Multiplexed Measurement to Drug Discovery

Manifold Bio gets $40 million for in vivo biologics design

Torus Biosystems

Torus Biosystems™ leverages toehold DNA nanotechnology from the Wyss Institute to enable rapid, quantitative, and highly multiplexed detection of infectious disease pathogens and host immune-response markers, facilitating point-of-care precision diagnostics.

Translation News

Harvard’s Wyss Institute launches Torus Biosystems to pioneer its comprehensive infectious disease diagnostics platform at the patient point-of-care

Torus Biosystems Announces $25 Million Series A Financing to Advance Infectious Disease Diagnostics Across Healthcare Settings

Study Published in Nature Biomedical Engineering Demonstrates the Unique Capabilities of Torus Biosystems Donut PCR System

Metalmark

Metalmark is commercializing catalytic nanoarchitecture technology developed at the Wyss to make clean air available to all by creating super-efficient, catalysis-based air purifiers inspired by the nanoarchitecture of butterfly wings.

Translation News

Metalmark launches to make clean air affordable for all

i2o Therapeutics

i2o Therapeutics is creating the next generation of oral peptide and protein-based therapies using an innovative ionic liquid technology developed at the Wyss Institute. This platform leverages the benefits of protecting the drug cargo while also transiently enhancing permeation across the epithelial lining when administered orally.

Rejuvenate Bio

Rejuvenate Bio is developing a combination gene therapy technology from the Wyss Institute to create a treatment that stops the progression of Mitral Valve Disease and other age-related conditions in dogs

Translation News

Rejuvenate Bio launches to help dogs live longer, healthier lives

Harvard study advances gene therapy in fighting age-related diseases

A New Approach to Gene Therapy—Now In Dogs, Maybe Later In Humans

Rejuvenate Bio banks $10M to advance gene therapy for aging in humans and dogs

Rejuvenate Bio Announces New Preclinical Research Evaluating Cellular Reprogramming for Age Reversal

Amend Surgical

Amend Surgical is developing the Wyss Institute’s tough gel technology into a biocompatible adhesive that can be used to safely and effectively seal wounds after oral surgery, replacing uncomfortable and hard-to-sew sutures.

Translation News

Wyss Institute’s tough gel technology licensed to Amend Surgical for oral surgery applications

FitBiomics

FitBiomics utilizes next-generation sequencing to identify and isolate novel probiotic bacteria for applications in sports performance and recovery. Learn more about the Wyss Institute’s ‘Sports Genomics’ technology.

Translation News

Harvard’s athlete-based next-generation probiotics technology licensed to FitBiomics

Discovery of performance-enhancing bacteria in the human microbiome

National Geographic’s Explorer episode “Race Car Science” investigates DNA testing and new probiotics

Poop pill could be the secret to crushing it at the gym

San Francisco Marathon Partners Up With Nella by FitBiomics

Verve Motion

Launched in 2020, Verve Motion is pioneering a new class of connected wearable technology for the industrial sector by integrating robotics into functional apparel.

Translation News

Wearable robotics startup Verve Motion snags $15M Series A

Sherlock Biosciences

Sherlock Biosciences leverages the INSPECTR™ technology from the Wyss Institute to create a highly sensitive, nucleic acid-based diagnostic platform that can rapidly deliver accurate and inexpensive results for a vast range of needs in virtually any setting

Translation News

Sherlock Biosciences Announces Close of Series A Round with Additional Investment Led by Northpond Ventures and Baidu Ventures

Sherlock Biosciences Licenses Wyss Technology to Create Affordable Molecular Diagnostics

Gates Foundation backs 'instrument-free' molecular diagnostic tests through Sherlock, Mologic tie-up

FDA Authorizes First-Ever Crispr Application For COVID-19 Coronavirus Test

Sherlock Biosciences Launches Innovation Lab to Develop COVID-19 Diagnostics with $7.5 Million Grant from Open Philanthropy

Sherlock Biosciences Receives $5 Million Grant to Advance INSPECTR™ Platform for COVID-19 Self-test

The 10 most innovative biotechnology companies of 2021

Sherlock Bio raises $80 Million to apply COVID-testing tech to other diseases

Kula Bio

Kula Bio develops sustainable, biological solutions for modern agriculture by using nitrogen-fixing microbes and renewable energy to deliver reliable, low-cost organic biofertilizers.

Translation News

Engineering Life

Ending 'dead zones'

Kula Bio Raises $10M to Advance Sustainable Agriculture

BOA Biomedical

BOA Biomedical is developing a pathogen-capture technology that physically removes bacteria, viruses, and other infectious agents from the blood. This system has the potential to save lives by treating or preventing life-threatening sepsis, buying extra time for critically ill patients to fight off diseases, and quickly identify pathogens so patients can be given the right treatment, thereby reducing the development of antibiotic resistance.

Translation News

Wyss Institute and Miraki Innovation Unveil BOA Biomedical to Reduce Sepsis Deaths

Mass. Biomedical Company Works on Rapid Coronavirus Test

HJF Contributes to Clinical Research Testing of a Pathogen-Removing Blood Filter to Treat COVID-19

Defense Department Plans Study of Covid-19 Blood-Purification Treatment

BOA™ Biomedical's GARNET™ therapeutic product begins First in Human clinical trial

BOA™ Biomedical's GARNET™ Therapeutic Demonstrates Safety Endpoint and Promising Results During Initial First in Human Use

Prapela

Prapela is leveraging the Institute’s infant health-promoting technology to develop an inexpensive Stochastic Vibro-tactile Simulation hospital bassinet pad to help normalize infants’ cardiorespiratory functions. This technology is based on the principle of “Stochastic Resonance”, which holds that white noise can boost weak signals in neuronally and other biological processes.

Translation News

Wyss Institute’s infant health-promoting technology licensed to Prapela

Effectiveness of infant apnea prevention technology

Prapela Awarded NIH/NIDA Grant Focused On Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome (NAS)

Ohio announces $1 million prize recipients of the Ohio opioid technology challenge

Massachusetts Life Sciences Center Awards Funding to Support Early-Stage Growth Across Major Sectors

Prapela earns FDA Breakthrough Device designation

On the Record: John Konsin's Biddeford startup, Prapela, is rocking the cradle

Tufts Medical Center & Prapela Receive $2.5 Million award from NIH to Support Prapela's Development of Hospital Bassinet Pad for Opioid-Exposed Newborns

Prapela Receives FDA's Breakthrough Device Designation to Investigate the use of Stimulation to Treat Apnea of Prematurity

eGenesisBio

eGenesisBio is facilitating the development of safe and effective cells, tissues, and organs for future medical transplantation into human patients.

Translation News

Pig organs for human patients: A challenge fit for CRISPR

Removing 62 barriers to pig-to-human organ transplant in one fell swoop

A CRISPR startup is testing pig organs in monkeys to see if they’re safe for us

Biotech Tests Pig-to-Human Transplants With New Funds

eGenesis Expands Research Collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital

eGenesis Announces $125 Million Series C Financing

HoliStick Medical

A specialized catheter device that can repair holes in the heart or tissue defects in other organs has been licensed by HoliStick Medical. Designed to work with sticky and flexible materials such as patches, the device incorporates mechanisms to delicately close a hole without requiring the use of sutures or rigid devices.

Translation News

Startup promises minimally invasive heart repair

Fixing holes in the heart without invasive surgery

GRO Biosciences, Inc.

GRO Biosciences is leveraging breakthrough technologies from computational protein design and synthetic biology to develop improved protein therapeutics for diabetes, growth disorders and autoimmunity.

Translation News

George Church Lab Spinout, GRO Biosciences, Secures $2.1 Million in Seed Funding

Bayer backs a George Church spinout trying to turn lab-invented amino acids into a new class of protein therapies

Root Robotics

Root Robotics, acquired by iRobot in 2019, is commercializing Root, an educational and interactive robot to teach coding to many age groups and experience levels. iRobot was purchased by Amazon in 2022.

Translation News

The Little Robot That Could

iRobot Introduces the Root Coding Robot Through Acquisition of Root Robotics

10 amazing toys that can teach your kids how to code

This robot can help your kids learn to code

CES 2018: The Root aims to teach kindergartners how to code

TechRadar's 2018 CES Awards – the best tech at the show

Harvard’s Wyss Institute launches Root Robotics, an educational startup to get anyone coding

Amazon to Buy Maker of the Roomba for $1.7 Billion

NuProbe

NuProbe utilizes DNA toehold probe systems to develop non-invasive cancer and infectious disease diagnostics

Translation News

Harvard’s Wyss Institute launches NuProbe to facilitate global precision medicine

NuProbe Announces $11 Million Series A Funding Round

NuProbe Global, CarrierGene Biotech Complete Merger, Partner With Illumina

NuProbe Closes $42M Fundraising

NuProbe Closes $50M in New Fundraising

Accelera Innovations

Accelera has licensed the Wyss Institute’s stochastic resonance technology to develop fully wearable medical devices that support neurological function in patients with cerebral palsy and other conditions. These devices provide gentle, random vibrations that improve patients’ ability to control their muscles.

ReadCoor

ReadCoor leverages the Wyss Institute’s Fluorescent in situ Sequencing method for simultaneously sequencing and mapping thousands of RNAs within cells and tissues to advance development of diagnostics and discover new drug targets.

Translation News

Wyss Institute launches ReadCoor to commercialize 3D in situ gene sequencing technology

Harvard spinout snags $23M in funding for 3-D gene mapping

ReadCoor, Inc. Announces $27 Million Series B Financing for Commercial Launch of 3D RNA, DNA, and Protein Spatial Sequencing Platform

10x Genomics Advances into Emerging Field of In Situ Analysis with Two Acquisitions: Signs Agreement to Acquire ReadCoor; Acquires Sweden’s CartaNA AB

Cerulean Scientific

Cerulean Scientific is using Wyss-developed thin layer perfluorocarbon technology to develop medical devices that resist clotting, obstruction and infection: three reasons implantable medical devices ubiquitously fail.

Translation News

Bioinspired coating for medical devices repels blood and bacteria

Validere

Validere licensed Wyss-developed “liquid fingerprinting” technology, called Watermark Ink (W-INK), into a pocket-sized device that could be used by first responders to quickly identify chemical spills, or by officials to verify the fuel grade of gasoline right at the pump. The W-INK technology can perform instant, in-field characterization of the chemical make-up and material properties of unknown liquids.

Translation News

Harvard spinout Validere to commercialize “liquid fingerprinting” technique

Ultivue

Ultivue is developing innovative imaging solutions to unfold new areas of biology by leveraging the Institute’s DNA-PAINT technology. At the center of the technology is the transient binding of fluorophores to targets mediated by DNA-DNA interaction

Translation News

Ultivue Raises $22 Million in Series C Funding

Ultivue Launches UltiMapper™ Portfolio of Reagents for Tissue Marker Detection and Analysis at High Level of Multiplexing and Throughput

Ultivue Inc. Announces Completion of its Series B Financing

Harvard’s Wyss Institute launches Ultivue to facilitate super-resolution microscopy

Ultivue Announces $50M Financing Round

Editas Medicine

Editas is leveraging Institute CRISPR technology towards genome editing for the treatment of patients with genetically defined diseases.

Translation News

Broad Institute, Harvard and MIT license CRISPR-Cas9 technology to Editas Medicine for therapeutic applications

First CRISPR study inside the body to start in US

Doctors Try 1st CRISPR Editing in the Body for Blindness

Editas Medicine Announces Preclinical Data and Large-Scale Manufacturing Process for EDIT-301, in Development for the Treatment of Sickle Cell Disease and Beta-Thalassemia

Adaptive Surface Technologies

Adaptive Surface Technologies (formerly SLIPS Technologies, Inc.) leverages the Wyss Institute’s Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces (SLIPS) technology to create a family of materials and coatings that repel virtually all fluids and biological fouling agents in industrial, medical, and consumer applications

Translation News

Adaptive Surface Technologies Awarded $499,000 USAF Contract to Develop Icephobic Coating that Improves Pre-Flight and In-Flight Anti-Icing Properties on Military Aircraft and Avionics

Johnson & Johnson Innovation Announces New Collaborations Advancing Ground-Breaking Biomedical Innovation Around the Globe

SLIPS Technologies Announces $8.6 Million in New Funding Round

Materials and engineering: Rebuilding the world

Wyss Institute launches ‘SLIPS’ company

Voxel8

Voxel8, acquired by Kornit Digital in 2021, integrates capabilities in materials science, software, and hardware to produce an additive manufacturing platform that co-prints hard, soft, and electronic materials for functional industrial parts. The company is leveraging some of the Wyss Institute’s 3D printed electronic parts.

MediCollector

MediCollector uses the Institute’s data acquisition algorithms to enable continuous collection of data to better characterize physiological changes and treatment in patients

Translation News

Wyss software licensed for hospital bedside data collection

MediCollector and Boston Children Hospital Receive Funding from NIH to Develop Next-Generation Hospital Information System

Emulate

Emulate leverages the Wyss Institute’s organs-on-chips technology to emulate human biology towards understanding how diseases, medicines, chemicals, and foods affect human health

Translation News

Liver-Chip Identifies Distinct Drug Toxicities in Human, Rat, and Dog Models

Emulate, Inc. Awarded Grant to Use Intestine-Chip to Study Human GI Infections Aboard the International Space Station

Founders Fund Leads $36 Million Financing Round in Emulate, Inc.

Emulate, Inc. and AstraZeneca form strategic agreement to work side-by-side on Organs-on-Chips technology to improve prediction of human safety and efficacy of drug candidates

Emulate, Inc. Awarded Grant to Fund Use of Human Emulation System aboard the International Space Station

Organ-On-A-Chip Startup, Emulate, Grabs $45M to Shake Up Drug Discovery

Wyss Institute’s technology translation engine launches ‘Organs-on-Chips’ company

Organs-on-Chips Centre opens in UK for advancements in medical research and drug development

Emulate Achieves 150 User Installations of Zoë® Instrument as a Lab-Ready Organs-on-Chips Platform

Boston startup Emulate names new CEO, announces new funding

Emulate Signs Collaborative Agreement with the FDA to Apply Lung-Chip to Evaluate Safety of COVID-19 Vaccines and Protective Immunity Against SARS-CoV-2

Emulate Announces Lung-Chip Technology Used by U.S. Army to Study Effects of COVID-19

Biotech behind "organ-on-a-chip" systems raises $82 million

The 10 most innovative biotech companies in 2022

ReWalk Robotics

The Institute’s soft exosuit technology has been licensed by ReWalk Robotics, Ltd. towards further development of concepts and designs of lightweight exoskeleton system technologies for medical applications such as stroke and multiple sclerosis. Licensing opportunities are available for other soft exosuit applications.

Translation News

FDA Issues Clearance for the ReStore™ Exo-Suit, the First Soft Robotic System for Stroke Therapy

ReWalk Robotics Receives CE Mark for ReStore™ Exo-Suit Stroke Rehabilitation Device

Post-stroke patients reach terra firma with Wyss Institute’s exosuit technology

Wyss Institute collaborates with ReWalk Robotics to develop wearable exosuit for patients with limited mobility

Novartis

Novartis is developing a therapeutic, biomaterial-based, cancer vaccine that promotes anti-cancer immunity for specific targets

Translation News

Harvard bioengineers’ biomaterial-based cancer immunotherapies to be developed by Novartis

Personal cancer vaccine gets their own boost

Injectable 3D vaccines could fight cancer and infectious diseases

Cross-disciplinary team from Harvard University and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute brings novel therapeutic cancer vaccine to human clinical trials

First cancer vaccine to eliminate tumors in mice

Soft Robotics, Inc.

Soft Robotics designs and builds automation solutions and soft robotic gripping systems that can grasp and manipulate items with the same dexterity of the human hand.

Translation News

Cambridge-based Soft Robotics to hire, move HQ following $20M raise

Actuators inspired by muscle

Soft Robotics Inc. Holds First Close of Series A Funding

Soft Touch: Squishy Robots Could Lead to Cheaper, Safer Medical Devices

Soft Robotics Lands $23M, Adds Major Industrial Robot Co. as Investor

K-Team Corporation

A collective of 1024 ‘Kilobots’ (a kilo of robots) that can be programmed to exhibit complex swarming behaviors has been licensed by K-Team Corporation, which is manufacturing and marketing the novel robot “swarm” system for use in education and research.

Translation News

Wyss Institute Signs Licensing Agreement with K-Team Corporation

NanoString Technologies

A new class of ultraspecific nucleic acid hybridization probes that can improve the detection of naturally occurring genetic sequences has been licensed to NanoString Technologies. Licensing opportunities are available for other applications.

Translation News

NanoString Technologies Introduces New Universal Junction Probe Design for Detecting Gene Fusions

$50M deal could expand NanoString Technologies diagnostic test into more markets

enEvolv

In 2013, Wyss biotech startup enEvolv licensed technology developed at the Wyss Institute called MAGE: Multiplex Automated Genomic Engineering, to accelerate their genome engineering process by orders of magnitude.