Technologies search results
32 Results for ''
-
Soft hydrogel electrodes for better, safer implants
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. -
eRapid: Multiplexed Electrochemical Detection of Complex Diseases
StataDX 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. -
Manufacturing Mini Surgical Robots
Project 1985 is commercializing the Wyss Institute’s Pop-Up MEMS technology to quickly and cheaply develop tiny robotic tools for minimally invasive surgery. -
MyoExo: Smart Wearable Sensors for Parkinson’s Disease
MyoExo is a wearable, fabric-based device with integrated smart sensors that aims to accurately monitor the primary signs of Parkinson’s Disease over time, improving diagnosis and treatment. -
Molecular Nucleic Acid Detection Technology to Empower Patients with Self-Testing Capabilities
This technology provides an innovative molecular diagnostic assay for high-speed, sensitive, and specific detection of nucleic acids from SARS-CoV-2 or other pathogens, performed in a newly devised reusable base unit with pathogen-specific, one-time-use consumables – first prototyped at the Wyss Institute, then transformed into an inexpensive, reliable and manufacturable detection system by 3EO Health. -
PhonoGraftTM: Biomimetic Hearing-restoration Technology
PhonoGraft is an eardrum-regenerating device that enables better and longer-lasting eardrum reconstruction, reducing the need for invasive surgeries and minimizing the risk of long-term hearing loss. Wyss startup Beacon Bio was acquired by Desktop Health, a healthcare business within Desktop Metal, Inc. which is further developing this technology towards commercialization with the former Wyss startup team leading the way. -
Crisscross Nanoseed Detection: Nanotechnology-Powered Infectious Disease Diagnostics
This nanotech-based diagnostic platform uses a unique nucleation mechanism that assembles a DNA "nanoseed" in the presence of a pathogen-derived biomarker that then is amplified within 15 minutes to create a signal for easy detection. It is highly robust, and cost-effective, and can be adapted to detect a variety of biomarkers. -
Soft Robotic Glove for Neuromuscular Rehabilitation
The soft robotic glove helps restore lost hand function in patients with neurological conditions using inflatable chambers that gently bend and straighten the fingers repeatedly. Wyss startup Imago Rehab launched in 2021 to commercialize this technology for at-home rehabilitation of stroke survivors, and aims to expand its offerings into other areas of rehabilitation. -
Tough Gel Adhesives for Wound Healing
A Band-Aid® adhesive bandage is an effective treatment for stopping external bleeding from skin wounds, but an equally viable option for internal bleeding does not yet exist. Surgical glues are often used inside the body instead of traditional wound closure techniques like stitches, staples, and clips because they reduce the patient’s time in the hospital... -
Microrobotic Laser-Steering Medical Device for Minimally Invasive Surgery
Endoscopy has proven extremely useful in many areas of medicine because it can be carried out with relatively few risks in a short time, and be used to diagnose and treat numerous diseases. In gastroenterology, endoscopies of the upper gastrointestinal tract (esophagus, stomach, first part of the small intestine; upper GI endoscopies) and lower gastrointestinal... -
eRapid: Multiplexed Electrochemical Sensors for Fast, Accurate, Portable Diagnostics
Handheld electrochemical sensors have revolutionized at-home medical testing for diabetics, but they have not yet been successfully applied to diagnosing other conditions. These sensors are based on the activity of an enzyme, and there are only a limited number of enzymes that can be used to detect biomarkers of human disease. An alternative, much more... -
FcMBL: Broad-Spectrum Pathogen Capture for Infectious Disease Diagnosis and Therapy
The Problem 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... -
Smart Tools: RFID Tracking for Surgical Instruments
Surgeons can use up to 250 different tools during a surgical procedure to perform tasks like cutting, grasping, cauterizing, suturing, suctioning, and reducing bleeding. Each tool must be manually counted by hospital staff both before and after surgery to ensure that none of them have gone missing, which is a tedious and time-consuming process. This... -
FOAMs: Soft Robotic Artificial Muscles
Soft robots, similar to living organisms, are made from compliant materials that allow them great flexibility and adaptability for tasks at the human-robot interface and elsewhere. To enable soft robotic missions in different industrial, exploratory, and medical settings, engineers are trying to equip them with artificial muscles that could enable them to move smoothly, efficiently... -
INSPECTR™: Direct-to-Consumer Molecular Diagnostic
INSPECTR™ is a molecular diagnostic platform that combines freeze-dried synthetic gene networks with cell-free expression systems to create novel biosensors that detect and report the presence of a target DNA or RNA molecule without the need for power or lab equipment. This technology was licensed by Wyss startup Sherlock Biosciences in 2019. -
abbieSense: Anaphylaxis Diagnostic
The molecule histamine plays a primary role in the anaphylaxis reaction, which is a major cause of illness and death in people with severe allergies. Histamine is a very small molecule composed of only seventeen atoms, making it a challenging target to detect. To date, no diagnostic test exists that can measure histamine levels accurately... -
Light-Reflecting Balloon Catheter for Heart Repair
Certain Congenital Heart Defects (CHD) called Atrial Septal Defect (ASD) and Ventricular Septal Defect (VSD) occur when openings in the septum that divides the upper and lower heart chambers causes oxygen-rich blood from the upper chamber to mix with oxygen–poor blood from lower chamber. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ASD alone... -
Flexible Force Sensors for Microrobotics
As robots have gotten smaller, softer, and more maneuverable, they’ve opened up myriad possibilities for interacting with objects on a tiny scale, including on and in the human body. However, human hands still have a major advantage over robots: the ability to feel. Researchers at the Wyss Institute are using the Pop-Up MEMS manufacturing technique... -
Flexible Robots for Endoscopic Procedures
Endoscopes are a standard device in gastrointestinal medicine, used by surgeons to noninvasively see and take biopsies from tissues along the entire digestive tract. However, endoscopes themselves amount to hollow tubes with a camera and light attached, through which different instruments are threaded to the procedure site, and are rigid and not very maneuverable. Two... -
Soft Robotic Shoulder Support for Stroke Rehabilitation
The majority of stroke survivors have difficulty using their affected arm in everyday life. Commercial rehabilitation robots exist, but most are expensive, rigid, non-portable exoskeletons that can only be used in clinical rehabilitation settings. Portable devices could considerably increase the frequency and amount of robotic therapy, maximizing the recovery possible for patients with arm impairments.... -
Wearable stochastic resonance technology for supporting neurological function
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. -
Project Abbie
Over 15 million Americans are at risk of anaphylaxis, a severe allergic reaction triggered by exposure to certain foods, materials, medications, and insect bites. Every three minutes, a food reaction sends someone to the emergency room. In most individuals, anaphylactic shock can be prevented by administering the counteracting drug epinephrine, as soon as an attack... -
Vibrating Insoles for Better Balance
Balance in humans relies on complex feedback from the senses that govern the body’s mechanical stability. Wyss Institute and Boston University researchers have discovered that random vibrations, too gentle to be felt, can improve the sensory feedback system and may restore stability through a mechanism known as “stochastic resonance”. By incorporating vibrating elements in insoles... -
Active Mattress for Infant Health
Wyss pediatric biotech startup Prapela is commercializing a gently vibrating mattress pad that helps soothe infants and normalize their breathing. This medical device can be used to address a variety of health conditions, including infant apnea and neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome. -
Liquid-Gated Membranes for Filtration
Just like pores in living organisms that control the absorption and excretion of fluids, gases and solids in response to their environments, flow-gating membranes have proved very useful for many mechanical systems, such as gas and liquid separators, dialysis machines, or open heart bypass pumps. But conventional approaches to create synthetic “gated pores” within those... -
Paper-Based Diagnostics
With the imminent threat of new pandemics and frequent disease outbreaks exemplified by the recent Ebola and Zika epidemics, there is a growing need for low-cost, easily deployable and simple-to-use diagnostic tools. The Wyss Institute has developed paper-based synthetic gene networks as a next generation diagnostic technology for use in global healthcare crises and patient... -
Pop-Up MEMS: Origami-Inspired Micromanufacturing
Recent decades have seen rapid development in the manufacture of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) at the micrometer scale, mostly based on silicon wafer processing techniques, with characteristic length scales of millimeters to nanometers. However, standard MEMS techniques are often inappropriate for producing machines with complex 3D topologies and varied constituent materials at the mesoscale, at sizes... -
4D Printing of Shapeshifting Devices
Organisms, such as flowers and plants, have tissue compositions and microstructures creating dynamic morphologies that can shapeshift in response to changes in their environments. Researchers at the Wyss Institute have mimicked a variety of such dynamic shape changes like those performed by tendrils, leaves, and flowers in response to changes in humidity or temperature with... -
Flexi-Mitts: Neuromoter and Cognitive Ability Tracker
Advances in medical care have improved the survival of very low birth weight premature infants but at the same time have also led to an increased number of surviving infants with reduced cerebral growth and long-term neurodevelopmental motor, cognitive, and social morbidities. These complications are met by a lack of early assessment tools for diagnosing... -
TLP: A Non-Stick Coating for Medical Devices
Every device implanted in the body or in contact with flowing blood faces two critical challenges that can threaten the life of the patient it is meant to help: blood clotting and bacterial infection. To confront this challenge, Wyss Institute researchers created a super-repellent, Thin Layer Perfluorocarbon (TLP) coating specifically designed to prevent clot formation... -
Soft Exosuits for Lower Extremity Mobility
Our lower-extremity soft exosuit is made of light, flexible fabrics that move with the wearer like clothing, and apply precisely timed assistive forces to a patient's ankles to improve their walking and mobility. This technology was licensed by ReWalk Robotics, which has commercialized it as the ReStore™ for stroke rehabilitation. -
SLIPS: Slippery Liquid-Infused Porous Surfaces
The need for an inexpensive, super-repellent surface cuts across a vast swath of societal sectors—from refrigeration and architecture, to medical devices and consumer products. Most state-of-the-art liquid repellent surfaces designed in the last decade are modeled after lotus leaves, which are extremely hydrophobic due to their rough, waxy surface and the physics of their natural...