Wyss InstituteFiltration & Separation – Wyss Institute

Nixe: Bioinspired Sustainable and Water-repellent Textile Coating

Jessica Leff — Mon, 06 Oct 2025 16:48:28 +0000

PFAs, per- and polyfluorinated chemical compounds, were first used with the invention of Teflon in 1938 and by now are found in the blood of 97% of Americans. They pose risks to human reproductive and immune health, and are strongly suspected to cause cancer, developmental defects, and other health problems. As “forever chemicals,” they are passed through entire ecosystems and along food chains.

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HydroPEF: Portable Off-the-Grid Water Purification

admin — Wed, 01 May 2024 05:48:43 +0000

Globally, more than 2 billion people are forced to use a drinking water source that is contaminated with bacteria, parasites, and other pathogens, and an estimated 502,000 people die each year from diarrhea as a result of unsafe water. While a majority of the world has access to improved water sources, many are often contaminated; thus, a need for effective water treatment at the point of…

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Advancing precision diagnostics at the patient point-of-care

Jessica Leff — Thu, 08 Feb 2024 15:55:59 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Aging populations and the tendency to lead a more sedentary lifestyle in many parts of the world is thought to dramatically increase the numbers of people living with multiple, chronic conditions. Moreover, climate change, as well as shifting patterns in land-use and travel, keep increasing the risk of infectious diseases that can emerge and spread locally and…

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Staying dry for months underwater

Mariel Schoen — Thu, 05 Oct 2023 17:18:22 +0000

By Leah Burrows/SEAS Communications (CAMBRIDGE) — A species of spider lives its entire life underwater, despite having lungs that can only breathe atmospheric oxygen. How does it do it? This spider, known as the Argyroneta aquatica, has millions of rough, water-repellent hairs that trap air around its body, creating an oxygen reservoir and acting as a barrier between the spider’s lungs and the…

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Creating a blueprint for optimized ear tubes and other implantable fluid-transporting devices

Jessica Leff — Wed, 05 Apr 2023 17:57:49 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Infections of the middle ear, the air-filled space behind the eardrum that contains the tiny vibrating bones of hearing, annually affect more than 700 million people worldwide. Children are especially prone to ear infections, with 40% of them developing recurrent or chronic infections that can lead to complications like impaired hearing…

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Accelerating pathogen identification in infants and children with bloodstream infections

Jessica Leff — Fri, 02 Dec 2022 20:44:23 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner / Wyss Institute Communications (LONDON) — A collaborative team led by researchers from Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health (GOSH), London and including researchers from the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and BOA Biomedical in Cambridge has re-engineered the process of microbial pathogen identification in blood samples…

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FcMBL: Broad-Spectrum Pathogen Capture for Infectious Disease Diagnosis and Therapy

admin — Wed, 11 Sep 2019 00:35:45 +0000

Infectious diseases have plagued humanity for millennia, and the pathogens that infect and sicken humans are constantly evolving. Severe infections can cause sepsis, a life-threatening condition in which a patient’s immune system overreacts to the infection. The body starts to attack itself, which can lead to tissue damage, organ failure, and death. Sepsis is very common – one out of every three…

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

Jessica Leff — Tue, 10 Sep 2019 18:33:49 +0000

(CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) — The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Miraki Innovation have unveiled BOA Biomedical Inc., a company that aims to solve the global healthcare demand for a device that rapidly diagnoses and treats infectious diseases, focusing specifically on sepsis and antibiotic-resistant infections. BOA is a portfolio company founded by Miraki…

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Filtering liquids with liquids

Jessica Leff — Thu, 08 Nov 2018 13:57:40 +0000

By Lindsay Brownell (CAMBRIDGE, Mass.) — Filtering and treating water, both for human consumption and to clean industrial and municipal wastewater, accounts for about 13% of all electricity consumed in the US every year and releases about 290 million metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere annually – roughly equivalent to the combined weight of every human on Earth. One of the most common…

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Acoustophoretic Printing

Mariel Schoen — Fri, 31 Aug 2018 18:10:28 +0000

Havard researchers have developed acoustophoretic printing, a method that uses 3D printing technology and highly localized sound waves to generate of droplets with defined sizes and a wide range of viscosities.

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