Wyss InstituteCell Therapy – Wyss Institute

Growing liver tissue on demand directly in the body

Jessica Leff — Fri, 17 Apr 2026 17:55:10 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — In patients developing end-stage liver disease, the damage has become too severe for the liver’s normally extraordinary regenerative capacity to repair or compensate for it. Once this “point of no return” has been reached, the only option is an organ transplant. However, getting a liver transplant is extremely difficult due to high demand and limited supply…

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Toward autonomous self-organizing biological robots with a nervous system

Mariel Schoen — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 18:30:42 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Biobots, whose growing line of variants started with Xenobots, are fascinating tiny self-powered living robots built exclusively using frog embryonic cells. Originally developed in the laboratories of Wyss Institute Associate Faculty member and Tufts University Professor Michael Levin, Ph.D. and his collaborators at University of Vermont…

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Toward engineering a human kidney collecting duct system

Jessica Leff — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 14:50:56 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — The human kidney filters about a cup of blood every minute, removing waste, excess fluid, and toxins from it, while also regulating blood pressure, balancing important electrolytes, activating Vitamin D, and helping the body produce red blood cells. This broad range of functions is achieved in part via the kidney’s complex organization. In its outer region…

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Recapitulating egg and sperm development in the dish

Jessica Leff — Fri, 15 Aug 2025 17:55:46 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — More than one-sixth of adults around the world experience infertility in their lifetime. There is a high unmet need not only for increased access to affordable, high-quality fertility care for those in need but, importantly, also for new biomedical solutions that can address the root causes of infertility. Some of the earliest causes of infertility go back to…

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Toward recreating the brain’s immune system in a dish

Jessica Leff — Tue, 10 Jun 2025 13:55:59 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Microglia are a specialized type of immune cells that accounts for about 10% of all cells within the brain and spinal cord. They function by eliminating infectious microbes, dead cells, and aggregated proteins, as well as soluble antigens that may endanger the brain and, during development, also help shape neural circuits enabling specific brain functions.

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GC Therapeutics: Changing the Future of Cell Therapies

Jessica Leff — Thu, 01 May 2025 13:00:40 +0000

Cell therapy is a promising, rapidly advancing form of therapy that is transforming the treatment and prevention of diseases with significant therapeutic need. In cell therapies, specific therapeutic cell types are transferred into patients to directly repair or regenerate damaged tissue and/or cells. To create cell therapy products, stem cells are differentiated outside the body into desired…

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ARPA-H-recognized iNode team seeks vital support to treat ovarian cancer with first-in-class implantable immune organs

Mariel Schoen — Thu, 30 Jan 2025 20:13:20 +0000

(BOSTON) — Ovarian cancer is deadlier than any other type of female reproductive organ cancer. It is estimated that in 2024, in the U.S. alone, more than 12,000 women will die from the disease because available therapies are not effective. To help overcome this striking deficit in women’s health, a team at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University has developed “iNodes…

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Innovative tissue engineering: ESCAPE, a pioneering new method explained

Jessica Leff — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 16:00:31 +0000

By Boston University Communications (BOSTON) — When it comes to the human body, form and function work together. The shape and structure of our hands enable us to hold and manipulate things. Tiny air sacs in our lungs called alveoli allow for air exchange and help us breath in and out. And tree-like blood vessels branch throughout our body, delivering oxygen from our head to our toes.

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ESCAPE Bioengineering

Jessica Leff — Wed, 11 Dec 2024 16:00:06 +0000

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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Wyss Institute’s iNodes team receives ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health award to advance the first implantable immune organs to treat ovarian cancer

Jessica Leff — Tue, 12 Nov 2024 14:58:41 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Ovarian cancer is more deadly than any other type of female reproductive organ cancer. It is estimated that in 2024, in the U.S. alone, more than 12,000 women will die from the disease because available therapies are not effective. To help overcome this striking deficit in women’s health, ARPA-H has selected a team at the Wyss Institute at Harvard University as…

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