Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering use Nature's design principles to develop bioinspired materials and devices that will transform medicine and create a more sustainable world. In this podcast series, Terrence McNally speaks directly with Institute researchers, exploring their motivations and how they envision our future as it might be impacted by their disruptive technologies.

Disruptive: Wyss Institute at Harvard University

What sorts of breakthroughs are possible by modifying an organism’s genome – something researchers are now able to do ever more cheaply and efficiently? Researchers around the world are already able to program microbes to treat waste water, generate electricity, manufacture jet fuel, create hemoglobin, and fabricate new drugs. What sounds like science fiction to most of us might be a reality in our lifetimes: the ability to build diagnostic tools that live within our bodies, or find ways to eradicate malaria from mosquito lines, or possibly even to make genetic improvements in humans that are passed down to future generations. Wyss Institute Founding Core Faculty Pam Silver and George Church discuss the high-impact benefits of their synthetic biology work, as well as how they manage the potential of unintended consequences.

Disruptive: Synthetic Biology

What sorts of breakthroughs are possible by modifying an organism’s genome – something researchers are now able to do ever more cheaply and efficiently? Researchers around the world are already able to program microbes to treat wastewater, generate electricity, manufacture jet fuel, create hemoglobin, and fabricate new drugs. What sounds like science fiction to most of us might be a reality in our lifetimes: the ability to build diagnostic tools that live within our bodies, or find ways to eradicate malaria from mosquito lines, or possibly even to make genetic improvements in humans that are passed down to future generations. Wyss Institute Founding Core Faculty Members Pam Silver and George Church discuss the high-impact benefits of their synthetic biology work, as well as how they manage the potential of unintended consequences.

Transcript: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wyss-prod/app/uploads/2015/05/26123354/Ep001_Disruptive_SyntheticBiology.pdf

Disruptive: Synthetic Biology | Wyss Institute

In part 3 of the Bioinspired Robotics episode, Wyss Core Faculty Member Conor Walsh discusses how a wearable robotic exosuit or soft robotic glove could assist people with mobility impairments, as well as how the goal to create real-world applications drives his research approach.

Our bodies — and all living systems — accomplish tasks far more complex and dynamic than anything yet designed by humans.  Many of the most advanced robots in use today are still far less sophisticated than ants that "self-organize" to build an ant hill, or termites that work together to build impressive, massive mounds in Africa. From insects in your backyard, to creatures in the sea, to what we see in the mirror, engineers and scientists at the Wyss Institute are drawing inspiration from nature to design whole new classes of smart swarm, soft, wearable and popup robotic devices. In this three part episode, Wyss Institute Core Faculty Members Radhika Nagpal, Robert Wood and Conor Walsh discuss the high-impact benefits of their bioinspired robotic work, as well as what drove them to this cutting-edge field.

Disruptive: Bioinspired Robots (pt. 3 - Wearable Robotics)

In part 1 of the Bioinspired Robotics episode, Wyss Founding Core Faculty Member Radhika Nagpal discusses swarm collectives, as well as the challenges faced by women in the engineering and computer science fields.

Our bodies — and all living systems — accomplish tasks far more complex and dynamic than anything yet designed by humans.  Many of the most advanced robots in use today are still far less sophisticated than ants that "self-organize" to build an ant hill, or termites that work together to build impressive, massive mounds in Africa. From insects in your backyard, to creatures in the sea, to what we see in the mirror, engineers and scientists at the Wyss Institute are drawing inspiration from nature to design whole new classes of smart swarm, soft, wearable and popup robotic devices. In this three part episode, Wyss Institute Core Faculty Members Radhika Nagpal, Robert Wood and Conor Walsh discuss the high-impact benefits of their bioinspired robotic work, as well as what drove them to this cutting-edge field.

Disruptive: Bioinspired Robotics (pt. 1 - Swarm Collectives)

In part 2 of the Bioinspired Robotics episode, Wyss Founding Core Faculty Member Robert Wood discusses new manufacturing techniques that are enabling popup and soft robots.

Our bodies — and all living systems — accomplish tasks far more complex and dynamic than anything yet designed by humans. Many of the most advanced robots in use today are still far less sophisticated than ants that "self-organize" to build an ant hill, or termites that work together to build impressive, massive mounds in Africa. From insects in your backyard, to creatures in the sea, to what we see in the mirror, engineers and scientists at the Wyss Institute are drawing inspiration from nature to design whole new classes of smart swarm, soft, wearable and popup robotic devices. In this three part episode, Wyss Institute Core Faculty Members Radhika Nagpal, Robert Wood and Conor Walsh discuss the high-impact benefits of their bioinspired robotic work, as well as what drove them to this cutting-edge field.

Disruptive: Bioinspired Robotics (pt. 2 - Materials, Manufacturing and Design)

Sepsis is a bloodstream infection caused by an uncontrolled spread of pathogens and release of toxins that can lead to systemic inflammation and multi-organ failure. Sepsis is the leading cause of hospital deaths and kills at least eight million people worldwide each year. Current treatment is to administer patients broad-spectrum antibiotics because there is often not enough time to identify the specific cause of infection. Diagnosis takes two to five days and every hour one waits can increase the risk of death by 5-9%.

In this episode of Disruptive, Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber and Senior Staff Scientist Mike Super discuss how their team developed a new therapeutic device inspired by the human spleen. This blood-cleansing approach can remove sepsis-causing pathogens from circulating blood without ever needing to know their identity. In animal studies, treatment with this device reduced the number of targeted pathogens and toxins circulating in the bloodstream by more than 99%. This device may radically transform the way sepsis is treated.

Disruptive: Confronting Sepsis

Sepsis is a bloodstream infection caused by an uncontrolled spread of pathogens and release of toxins that can lead to systemic inflammation and multi-organ failure. Sepsis is the leading cause of hospital deaths and kills at least eight million people worldwide each year. Current treatment is to administer patients broad-spectrum antibiotics because there is often not enough time to identify the specific cause of infection. Diagnosis takes two to five days and every hour one waits can increase the risk of death by 5-9%.

In this episode of Disruptive, Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber and Senior Staff Scientist Mike Super discuss how their team developed a new therapeutic device inspired by the human spleen. This blood-cleansing approach can remove sepsis-causing pathogens from circulating blood without ever needing to know their identity. In animal studies, treatment with this device reduced the number of targeted pathogens and toxins circulating in the bloodstream by more than 99%. This device may radically transform the way sepsis is treated.

Transcript: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wyss-prod/app/uploads/2017/08/09180758/Ep3_Disruptive_Confronting_Sepsis.pdf

Disruptive: Confronting Sepsis | Wyss Institute

How can a materials science approach lead to medical breakthroughs?
In this episode of Disruptive, Wyss Core Faculty Member Dave Mooney discusses programmable nanomaterials approaches to fighting disease. Mooney explains how a cancer vaccine, developed by his team and currently in a clinical trial at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, can train one’s own immune system to target specific cancer cells. He also describes the development of novel hydrogels that find application in drug delivery systems and tissue regeneration. Chris Gemmiti, a member of the Wyss Institute’s Business Development team, joins the conversation to discuss the Wyss process of translation and what is involved in bringing the hydrogel drug delivery technology from bench-to-bedside.

Transcript: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wyss-prod/app/uploads/2017/08/10130728/Ep4_Disruptive_Cancer_Vaccine__Hydrogel_Drug_Delivery.pdf

Disruptive: Cancer Vaccine & Hydrogel Drug Delivery | Wyss Institute

How can DNA be programmed to build novel structures, devices, and robots?

We have taken our understanding of DNA to another level, beginning to take advantage of some of DNA’s properties that have served nature so well, but in ways nature itself may have never pursued. Humans can now use DNA as a medium for nano-scale engineering. The resulting newly programmed and built DNA structures can enhance our ability to see and study molecular interactions and the inner-life of cells. As these structures become increasingly complex and versatile, they have the potential to spawn entirely new and revolutionary technologies for biological monitoring, therapeutic delivery, and applications scientists have not even thought of yet.

In this episode of Disruptive, Wyss faculty members William Shih, Wesley Wong, and Peng Yin discuss what it is like being on the frontier of science, and the potential applications of their DNA-programming work.

Transcript: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/wyss-prod/app/uploads/2017/08/09175352/Ep5_Disruptive_Molecular-Robotics.pdf

Disruptive: Molecular Robotics | Wyss Institute

A bionic leaf combines advanced catalysts with engineered bacteria to produce hydrocarbon fuels from light, water, and carbon dioxide.

Melding Biology and Chemistry in a Bionic Leaf

The rapid emergence of the Zika virus on the world stage calls for a detection system that is just as quick. In this episode of Disruptive, Wyss Core Faculty member and MIT professor Jim Collins and University of Toronto Assistant Professor Keith Pardee discuss how they developed a low cost, paper-based diagnostic platform that can rapidly detect the Zika virus. The full team, comprising of researchers from several institutions, also developed a workflow that will enable them to use this same platform to respond to future pandemics. In response to an emerging outbreak, a custom tailored diagnostic system could potentially be ready for use in the field within one week.

Disruptive: Rapid, Low-Cost Detection of Zika & Future Pandemics

Robots - The Podcast for News and Views on Robotics

Soft Robotics Toolkit

Michael Super, PhD, of the Wyss Institute, shares his story of how the spread of infectious disease throughout South Africa and London inspired him to pursue human health and combat disease.

Protein Engineering: Editing Functionality

The Wyss Institute uses Nature's design principles to develop bioinspired technologies that will revolutionize medicine and create a more sustainable world.

Disruptive: Rapid, Low-Cost Detection of Zika & Future Pandemics

Wyss Institute

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