Therapeutics

NodeTX is a novel immunotherapy that leverages the human body's innate ability to grow lymph nodes to fight tumors.

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.

Researchers at the Wyss Institute have developed two methods for building arbitrarily shaped nanostructures using DNA, with a focus on translating the technology towards nanofabrication and drug delivery applications. One proprietary 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...

Passive directional valves enable smaller and more complex microfluidics applications across of broad spectrum of future technologies, including diagnostics, drug development, and tissue engineering.

Tunable hydrogels that enhance the efficacies of adoptively transferred immune cells during their manufacturing by mimicking target tissue biomechanics.

Ichor is addressing multiple age-related diseases by identifying genetic interventions that reprogram old cells to a younger state. Therapies based on these interventions could improve survival for cancer patients and long-term cardiovascular and neurological health.

The HarborSite next-generation gene therapy platform enables integration of therapeutic genes into genomic safe harbors using highly specific and efficient recombinases to enable more predictable, safe and durable gene therapies.

Through a simple and effective metabolic labeling approach, patient-derived T cells engineered to carry immune-enhancing cytokines on their surfaces could help expand adoptive T cell therapies to treatment of solid tumors and improve blood cancer therapies.

Our novel dsRNAs stimulate the immune system to inhibit cancer, bacterial, and viral infections including SARS-CoV-2 and multiple influenza strains.

AminoX enables protein drugs to only become active in the tumor microenvironment and not elsewhere in the body to avoid immune-related adverse effects in the body. By designing and building non-standard amino acids into strategic positions of protein drugs, AminoX provides tumor-specific, and longer-lasting target inhibition.

The Problem Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) are valued for their ability to secrete compounds that modulate the body’s immune system, making them an attractive solution for existing problems with cell therapies including host-vs-graft disease and organ transplant rejections. However, MSCs are rapidly cleared from the body and can come under fire from the immune system....

Personalized cancer and infectious disease vaccine platform harnessing DNA nanotechnology to control the co-delivery and co-presentation of tumor antigen and adjuvant ligands to immune cells with nanoscale precision. This approach has potential to trigger enhanced immune responses against tumors and infectious pathogens.

SomaCode is solving the problem of cell therapy delivery by identifying unique molecular “zip codes” for disease and engineering cells to home to those zip codes, making cell therapies safer and more effective.

The Lab-on-a-Molecule platform leverages the Wyss Institute’s DNA nanotechnology technology for the high-throughput, low-cost screening of a wide range of chemical and biologic compounds to enable the discovery of first-in-class therapeutics for various conditions.

Soft, conductive hydrogels match the physical properties of the human brain, enabling the creation of electrodes and implantable devices that can improve brain-machine interfaces while reducing the risk of injury.

FeCILL is novel delivery vehicle for antifungal drugs that targets them right to the infection site and reduces harmful side effects in patients with severe fungal infections.

Sparkle is revolutionizing the binder assay industry by harnessing novel chemistry to create instant fluorescent biosensors for a wide variety of uses.

First disease-modifying therapy that can be systemically applied to safely and effectively treat patients with different forms of pancreatitis.

eLBP is a safe and cost-effective therapeutic for patients treated with beta-lactam antibiotics that safeguards against the loss of health-essential microbes while preventing the development and spread of antibiotic resistance.

CircaVent is a novel drug discovery platform that combines predictive algorithms, high-throughput preclinical models, and human organoids to identify and test drugs that could treat mental health conditions like bipolar disorder.

The next-generation gene therapy for molecular skin rejuvenation combines a comprehensive target gene prediction with a novel transdermal delivery approach for therapeutic adenovirus-associated viruses. The platform targets monogenic disease indications in the skin, and extends the same targets to the treatment of common skin aging conditions.

Macrophages are very malleable immune cells, but that also means that they can be influenced by cancerous tumors and inflammatory processes. Our cellular "backpacks" stick to macrophages and can deliver molecules that keep them in their desired state for cell therapy and more.

A suite of diverse, multifunctional DNA nanotechnological tools with unique capabilities and potential for a broad range of clinical and biomedical research areas. Our DNA nanotechnology devices were engineered to overcome specific bottlenecks in the development of new therapies and diagnostics, and to help further our understanding of molecular structures.

OMNIVAX is an immuno-material-based vaccine platform technology able to create safe and effective therapeutic and prophylactic vaccines against viral and bacterial threats. Its modular approach enables the rapid creation of vaccines for pathogens using known and unknown antigens. Current approaches include vaccines against some viral diseases.

An implantable bone marrow cryogel to accelerate the full reconstitution of the immune system, including T cell immunity, in patients that received chemotherapy and a bone marrow transplant. This could provide an off-the-shelf, material-based solution for patients with severe blood disorders whose immunity is recovering only slowly after treatment.

One of the biggest challenges in medicine is getting a drug to the right part of the body at the right time. Even when the target site in the body is known, like a pain-causing injury or a cancerous tumor, most drugs are given as oral pills or intravenous infusions, which limits their effectiveness. In...

CogniXense is a target-agnostic drug discovery platform that enables the repurposing of drugs for rare genetic diseases in record time. By combining human data-based computational drug prediction with on-demand animal model development, we can mimic the diversity of symptoms of patient populations and begin drug screening on new diseases within a month.

Immunotherapy, or tweaking the body’s own immune system to treat disease, is attracting significant attention in the medical field for its potential to offer long-lasting cures with fewer side effects than chemotherapy or other drugs. One type of immunotherapy involves isolating T cells (a type of white blood cell) from a patient’s body, sometimes modifying...

The burgeoning field of synthetic biology is designing artificial gene circuits that recognize molecules in their environment and respond by regulating genes with desired activities. In the future, such capabilities could allow the engineering of cells as diagnostic or therapeutic devices, factories for the production of clinically or industrially coveted molecules, and as specialized devices...

The ability to derive and manipulate pluripotent stem cells has opened up new avenues for modeling biological systems in both healthy and diseased conditions. In order to more fully recapitulate the tissue microenvironment with its cell-cell, cell-extracellular matrix, and cell-niche interactions, it is essential to transition stem-cell culturing from monolayers to 3D structures. Self-organization of...

Because of their large molecular sizes and properties, biologic drugs, be it in the form of monoclonal antibodies that target disease-associated molecules or active proteins and enzymes that may correct deficiencies in the human body, have proven difficult to deploy in many cases. Their therapeutic effects on target cells and tissues often require high and...

Focused rotary jet spinning (FRJS) is a manufacturing technique that can rapidly spin polymers into long fibers that are easily shaped into heart valves for treating a variety of cardiac diseases in children and adults.

Therapeutic variants of the natural hormone erythropoietin (EPO) which is produced in the kidney to boost the production of red blood cells are commonly used to treat anemias stemming from kidney disease, chemotherapy and other complications. However, many drugs that are based on therapeutic proteins, including EPO, often cause unwanted side effects because they not...

Wyss Institute researchers have developed a biomolecular manufacturing method that can quickly and easily produce a wide range of vaccines, antimicrobial peptides and antibody conjugates while doing so anywhere, even in places without access to electrical power or refrigeration. The breakthrough could provide a life-saving workaround for making modern interventions available in remote areas. Today...

The Wyss team has developed a novel drug targeting nanotechnology that is activated locally by mechanical forces, either endogenous high shear stresses in blood created by vascular occlusion or mechanical energy applied locally using low-energy ultrasound radiation. Today, vascular blockage is the leading cause of death and disability in United States and Europe. Current therapies...

Progress in drug testing and regenerative medicine could greatly benefit from laboratory-engineered human tissues built of a variety of cell types with precise 3D architecture. But production of greater than millimeter sized human tissues has been limited by a lack of methods for building tissues with embedded life-sustaining vascular networks. In this video, the Wyss...