Faculty & Leadership

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  Core Faculty
  Natalie Artzi, Ph.D.
  Natalie Artzi is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. She is a Principal Research Scientist at the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science at MIT, is a Core Faculty of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, and is an Associate Member of the Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT. Leveraging material...
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  Core Faculty
  Christopher Chen, M.D., Ph.D.
  Chris is the William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor at Boston University, Director of the Tissue Microfabrication Laboratory, Founding Director of the Biological Design Center at Boston University, and is a Paul G. Allen Distinguished Investigator. He has been an instrumental figure in the development of engineered cellular microenvironments to understand and control how cells build...
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  Core Faculty
  George Church, Ph.D.
  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 the Wyss is development of a technology for synthesizing whole genes, and engineering whole genomes, far faster,...
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  Core Faculty
  James J. Collins, Ph.D.
  Jim is developing innovative ways to reprogram organisms, particularly bacteria, to perform desired tasks, such as detecting and treating infections. These re-engineered organisms could lead to cheaper drugs, rapid diagnostic tests, and synthetic probiotics to treat antibiotic-resistant infections and a range of complex diseases. Jim’s research group works in synthetic biology and systems biology, with...
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  Founding Director and Core Faculty
  Donald E. Ingber, M.D., Ph.D.
  Donald E. Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., is the Founding Director of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology at Harvard Medical School and the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children’s Hospital, and Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Biologically Inspired Engineering at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of...
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  Core Faculty
  Jennifer A. Lewis, Sc.D.
  Jennifer has made pioneering contributions to the programmable assembly of soft functional, structural, and biological materials. These novel architected materials may find potential application in printed electronics, optical and structural metamaterials, soft robotics, and 3D vascularized tissues and organs.  Jennifer and her research team have developed new classes of soft functional inks for pen-on-paper electronics,...
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  Core Faculty
  Samir Mitragotri, Ph.D.
  Professor Mitragotri’s research is focused on drug delivery. His research has advanced fundamental understanding of biological barriers and has led to the development of new materials as well as technologies for the treatment of various ailments including diabetes, cancer, skin diseases, multiple sclerosis, and infections, among others. Many of his inventions have advanced to clinical...
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  Core Faculty
  David J. Mooney, Ph.D.
  Dave is studying the mechanisms that enable cells to receive and react to chemical and mechanical signals, such as cell adhesion molecules and cyclic strains. These signals carry information that tells cells to alter their behavior by changing their level of proliferation or area of specialization. Sometimes the message being sent is to promote tissue...
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  Core Faculty
  William Shih, Ph.D.
  William is overseeing an effort to apply Synthetic Biology approaches to the development of self-assembling DNA nanostructures and devices for use in biomedical applications. In addition to carrying genetic information, DNA is increasingly being explored for its use as a building material. This new process is called DNA origami because a long strand of DNA...
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  Core Faculty
  Pamela Silver, Ph.D.
  Pamela is building synthetic cells that act as sensors, memory devices, bio-computers, producers of high value commodities and energy from the sun, and novel subsystems such as proteins with designed properties for therapeutic use.  Among her most recent innovations are bacteria that can sense and respond to gut inflammation and the Bionic Leaf, which couples...
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  Core Faculty
  David R. Walt, Ph.D.
  David Walt pioneered the use of microwell arrays for single-molecule detection and genetic measurements, which has revolutionized the process of genetic and proteomic analysis, enabling the cost of DNA sequencing and genotyping to plummet nearly a millionfold in the last decade. This technology is now the gold standard for genomic analysis for a wide variety...
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  Core Faculty
  Peng Yin, Ph.D.
  Peng is a Professor in the Department of Systems Biology at Harvard Medical School. Peng’s lab uses synthetic DNA/RNA to construct, manipulate, and visualize nanoscale structures. They have developed a general framework to program DNA/RNA strands to self-assemble into structures with user-specified geometry or dynamics. By interfacing these nanostructures with other functional entities (e.g. fluorophores,...