The Wyss
Business Women’s Health Angelika Frezen, Ph.D., M.B.A. Wyss Institute Technology Translation Director and COO Hello from the Wyss Institute’s new habitat at 201 Brookline Avenue in the bustling Fenway neighborhood of Boston! We have spent the last few months settling into our 107,000-square-foot “Collaboratory” space and exploring new ways to connect with each other and with partners beyond our (now mostly glass) walls. This issue of the Wyss Business Insider focuses on what is perhaps the largest unmet need in healthcare and medicine: women’s health. Though more than half of all humans are women, a paltry 1% of healthcare research and innovation funding is invested in female-specific conditions beyond cancer. This gap doesn’t only affect women: it’s well-known that biological sex differences can impact the efficacy of different drugs or the prevalence of certain side effects, but these differences have not been systematically studied by the scientific community. The Wyss Institute has recognized this gap and is committed to closing it, both through our worldclass research and our technology validation pipeline. Our recently launched Women’s Health Catalyst is focused on solving the most
AminoX Team
fundamental stumbling block in the path towards progress in this area: we simply don’t know enough about many femalespecific diseases to accurately diagnose or treat them. The Women’s Health Catalyst serves as a connection point for researchers across the Institute to collaborate on research in women’s health, identify sources of funding, and support our teams as they work to elucidate the many remaining mysteries of female health and disease. We also have many research projects in this area that are well on their way toward commercialization. Our Spotlight Story focuses on ReConstruct, a Validation Project that offers breast cancer survivors a safer and longer-lasting solution to reconstruction after a mastectomy. If you are interested in joining us in our mission to bring this and other innovations to market so they can improve women’s lives, don’t hesitate to get in touch. Your mom would be proud.
IN THIS ISSUE
– ReConstruct – Team Spotlight: AminoX – Startup, Licensing, and Collaboration Opportunities – What’s Happening GET IN TOUCH WITH OUR TEAMS
Bill Bedell, Ph.D. Synthetic Biology and Therapeutics william.bedell@wyss.harvard.edu Ally Chang, Ph.D., M.B.A. MedTech and Digital Health ally.chang@wyss.harvard.edu Bob Cunningham Director of Strategic Engagement robert.cunningham@wyss.harvard.edu Gretchen Fougere, Ph.D. Regenerative Medicine and MedTech gretchen.fougere@wyss.harvard.edu Sam Inverso, Ph.D. Synthetic Biology and Research Tools sam.inverso@wyss.harvard.edu Alex Li, M.B.A. Diagnostics and Sustainability alexander.li@wyss.harvard.edu Jonelle Prill-Tate Associate Director of Strategic Engagement jonelle.prill-tate@wyss.harvard.edu
Luba Perry
S P OTL I G H T
ReConstruct
Building better breast reconstruction for cancer survivors At the close of Breast Cancer Awareness month, we bring you a story of hope for the millions of women who are diagnosed with this disease. Most breast cancer patients undergo some form of mastectomy, or surgical removal of breast tissue, during treatment. Breast reconstruction is a popular solution for breast cancer survivors to help restore a feeling of normalcy after surgery, but it comes at a price.
solutions on the market for breast cancer survivors.
All breast implants, whether silicone or saline, must be replaced every 10-15 years, and recent research has shown that they can even cause cancer themselves. The only other alternative, autologous tissue flaps, involves taking fat tissue from elsewhere in the patient’s own body to reconstruct a breast. This process can cause damage and complications both at the donor site and in the breast itself, often because the transplanted tissue fails to get enough blood flow in its new location. In short, there are no safe, long-term
The ReConstruct Institute Project team at the Wyss Institute, led by Luba Perry, is on a mission to solve that unmet need and help survivors live empowered, healthy lives. Harnessing innovations from the Wyss Institute’s 3D Organ Engineering platform, ReConstruct creates living adipose tissue implants derived from a patient’s own cells.
I immediately fell in love with this field and with the ability to build something from scratch in the lab and see it flourish postimplantation in the body. Luba Perry Wyss Senior Scientist
A technique called SWIFT is used to “draw” a network of 3D channels through the tissues to maximize blood flow to its cells.
Then, the team uses a proprietary suturable cuff to ensure that the newly implanted tissue can immediately integrate with the patient’s blood supply. A series of in vivo experiments have shown that the ReConstruct adipose tissues are well-perfused with blood following implantation, and showed no signs of cell death or damage to the host for several days. The ReConstruct team plans to launch a startup to bring its innovation to breast cancer patients, and in the long-term, aims to use their platform to create other soft tissues to treat metabolic disorders like diabetes and obesity. They are currently seeking interested investors, partners, and collaborators to help commercialize their technology. If you are interested in helping to accelerate the development of ReConstruct, please get in touch with Gretchen Fougere.
TEAM S P OT L IG H T
Coming together to engineer new treatments for serious diseases
Three researchers from different disciplines and faculty labs joined forces to develop AminoX, a technology that uses non-standard amino acids to improve protein therapies Immunotherapy is often seen as the next frontier in cancer treatment, but patients frequently experience painful side effects that limit their use. What if these drugs could more accurately target cancer cells, improving existing therapeutics and opening new options for cancer patients and beyond? Assembling the team Chemist Erkin Kuru, Ph.D., began working in the lab of Core Faculty member George Church, Ph.D., in 2016. Kuru focused on using non-standard amino acids to augment proteins, first concentrating on enhancing them with a fluorescent property. A year later, Helena de Puig, Ph.D., joined the lab of Core Faculty member Jim Collins, Ph.D., after studying nanotechnology, antibody screening, and infectious disease diagnostics. In 2020, the two began collaborating with the idea that they could take advantage of de Puig ’s experience in high-throughput antibody screening to develop a new class of instant diagnostics using Kuru’s findings. Soon, they realized they could use nonstandard amino acids to directly endow proteins with novel functions without the need to re-engineer any cellular machinery. Thus, AminoX was born.
Once you have a technology in your hands that can be used to generate therapies for serious diseases, such as cancer, you’re making a mistake if you’re not trying to do it. Helena de Puig Wyss Postdoctoral Fellow
In 2022, Michaël Moret, Ph.D., joined the team, with expertise in machine learning and drug discovery. AminoX became a Wyss Validation Project in July 2023. Now, the three work together seamlessly. De Puig’s product development experience makes her the natural leader. Moret handles the computational aspects, along with research and literature review on the drug discovery side. Kuru focuses on the chemistry he understands so well.
The team eventually aims to address several problems that cannot be solved using the 20 naturally occurring amino acids. This could range from treating autoimmune diseases to resurrecting existing protein therapies that failed in clinical trials because they were cleared too quickly from the body or couldn’t bind to their target strongly enough.
Medicinal chemists have been working for decades to take a small molecule and perfect it for therapeutic effects. Now, we’re able to do the same thing to proteins. Erkin Kuru Wyss Postdoctoral Fellow
A uniquely Wyss project This project perfectly exemplifies the multidisciplinary, collaborative nature of the Wyss, where working with researchers from different labs is encouraged. Since AminoX became a Validation Project, the team has further benefitted from everything the Institute has to offer. They are connecting and collaborating with researchers across various disciplines, accelerating the de-risking of their technology.
Forward thinking has been so helpful to this project. If in 20 years small molecule drugs are still one of the main ways we treat diseases, it would be sad because of how limited they are. We aim to solve that problem now, in a more intelligent way. Michaël Moret Wyss Research Fellow
As the team further refines and de-risks their technology with the goal of eventually forming a startup, they’re seeking investors as well as industry partners focused on biologics for partnerships. Read the full story on our website.
Probiotic pills packed with an unexpected punch Before pursuing his Ph.D. in biomedical science, Jonathan Scheiman, Ph.D., played college basketball. At the Wyss, he worked on a project that united his passions: studying elite athletes’ microbiomes and combining these insights with cutting-edge research to create health solutions for all. In April 2018, FitBiomics spun out of the Wyss to translate this technology, with Scheiman as its Founder and CEO. They have transformed his discoveries in the lab into IP and products, including Nella and V-Nella, which is directly derived from research started at the Institute. Scheiman reflects, “We can continue to use the principles I got from the Wyss – learning, iterating, and optimizing – to bring future innovations to market. That’s what evolution is: competing against various elements in society and using nature’s toolkit to find the solutions. Read the full story on our website.
FEATURED OPPORTUNITIES
Lactation Biologics: Enhancing lactation to improve infant and maternal health Team Leads
Kasia Kready, Jeffrey Way
Faculty Lead
Pamela Silver
Contact
Gretchen Fougere
ViroScreen: RNA delivery to treat multiple myeloma Team Leads
Siddharth Iyer, Jenny Tam, Dima Ter-Ovanesyan
Faculty Lead
George Church
Contact
Bill Bedell
Experts agree that breast milk is the best source of nutrition for infants, but 50% of moms struggle to make enough milk to feed their babies. Infant formula is a viable supplement to breast milk, but relying entirely on formula can become dangerous during power outages, supply chain disruptions, and in places without access to clean water. Also, if a mother who hasn’t been breastfeeding wants to start, it can take 4-6 weeks for her body to produce milk. To help all mothers feed their babies, we’re developing protein therapeutics to increase lactation. Protecting breastfeeding is imperative for advancing women’s health equity and creating resilient infant feeding systems in an age of increasing natural disasters and climate crises. The team aims to launch a startup to commercialize this technology, and is currently seeking collaborators, partners, and funders. Gene editing offers the tantalizing hope of a permanent cure for many diseases, but the development of therapies has been hampered by stumbling blocks. Two of the most popular methods of packaging and delivering gene therapies have major limitations. Adenoassociated viruses (AAVs) are too small to carry large mRNAs encoding gene editors to the vast majority of human organs. And lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) are rapidly cleared from the body by the liver before they can deliver their cargo to their intended targets. The ViroScreen team is exploring many types of viruses across the virome to develop novel virus-like particles that can deliver gene therapy to a wide variety of cell types. Their initial focus is delivering RNA to T cells for in-vivo CAR-T therapy against multiple myeloma. The team is currently seeking collaborators and partners.
Northpond Ventures and the Wyss Institute’s alliance is going strong Two and a half years after joining forces to galvanize promising early-stage research, our alliance with Northpond Ventures’ R&D arm, Northpond Labs, is continuing to pay dividends for both partners. Northpond’s Laboratory for Bioengineering Research and Innovation has supported three Wyss technologies from its Validation Project program: enzymatic RNA synthesis (which launched as EnPlusOne Biosciences in 2022), Project SomaCode, and the Lab-on-a-Molecule Project. Additionally, the Northpond Director’s Innovation Fund is gearing up for what promises to be another busy round of applications from earlystage projects – about 15 Wyss teams applied for funding in 2022, up from five in 2020. “Our alliance with the Wyss Institute has allowed us to build partnerships with founders who we have a high degree of confidence in, because we’ve been with them every step of the way throughout their spinout journey,” said Mike Rubin, Northpond’s Founder and CEO. “It’s been a worthwhile endeavor, and we’re excited to see what the future holds.” Read the full story on our website.
STARTUP, LICENSING, AND COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES TLO Tx: Fighting pancreatic cancer Team Lead
Girija Goyal
Faculty Lead
Don Ingber
Contact
Gretchen Fougere
directEsense: Diagnostics for animal health Team Leads
Nandhinee Shanmugam, Rohini Singh, Jeong-Chan Lee
Faculty Lead
Don Ingber
Contact
Alex Li
COPDx: Triaging COPD acute exacerbations Team Leads
Rushdy Ahmad, Tiffany Lin, Mike Super
Faculty Leads
Don Ingber, David Walt
Contact
Gretchen Fougere
Brain-Targeted Nanoparticles: Systemic treatment of brain diseases Team Lead
Maria Poley
Faculty Leads Natalie Artzi, Don Ingber Contact
Sam Inverso
Ichor: Treating age-related diseases with cell rejuvenation Team Lead
Alex Plesa
Faculty Leads George Church, Don Ingber Contact
Bill Bedell
Sometimes, cancer patients’ bodies develop lymphnode-like clumps of immune cells called Tertiary Lymphoid Organs (TLOs) close to cancerous tumors. While scientists aren’t sure exactly why it happens, the presence of TLOs seems to improve patients’ response to therapy. This team is developing in vitro models of pancreatic cancer tumors with TLOs to identify molecules that affect TLO function, as well as novel immunotherapy targets that leverage TLOs’ tumorsuppressive abilities. This team is currently seeking collaborators and partners. Most veterinary diagnostic tests are conducted in centralized labs, which can be costly, slow, and difficult to access. Leveraging a validated Wyss-invented, highly sensitive, and specific sensor technology, directEsense is a handheld diagnostic device that could enable rapid, accurate, and cost-effective testing for a variety of diseases and biomarkers directly from fluid samples at veterinary offices, farms, stables, or at home. The technology also has potential use in human diagnostics. This team is currently seeking collaborators and partners. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) affects 15.9 million U.S. adults, costing $49 billion annually. When COPD flares up in acute exacerbations (AE), doctors need to evaluate patients in person by cobbling together symptoms without an accurate diagnostic tool. COPD patients also often lack mobility and access to diagnostic labs. Together with clinical collaborators at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, we’re developing a point-of-care test with new AE-correlated biomarkers to differentiate between viral and bacterial causes. Results can be sent to a smartphone app and allow doctors to remotely diagnose or triage patients, saving lives and reducing healthcare costs. This team is currently seeking collaborators and partners. Brain diseases, such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, cancers, and rare genetic conditions, are difficult to treat because most drugs are not able to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), which naturally shields the brain from unwanted molecules and toxins. We’re developing a novel brain-targeted drug delivery platform by packaging engineered antibody shuttles into specifically engineered nanostructures to improve the transport of drugs across the BBB. This team is currently seeking collaborators and partners. Age is a major risk factor for numerous chronic conditions, many of which arise from age-related dysfunctions in hematopoietic stem cells (HSC). This functional decline is evident in HSC transplantation (HSCT), where HSCs from older donors result in reduced survival rates of recipients, compared to HSCs from younger donors. We’re developing “transcriptomic reprogramming” techniques for HSC rejuvenation to improve outcomes for HSCT patients. This research also has the potential to provide insights that could help improve overall human health and extend lifespan for the broader population.
What’s happening... WYSS STARTUP NEWS 3EO Health received Emergency Use Authorization from the FDA for its low-cost, point-of-care molecular SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test. Emulate was awarded the 2023 Technology Innovation Leadership Award for their successful development of Organ-on-a-Chip technology from Frost & Sullivan. Rhinostics introduced its automated ELEstic/ELEbot platform to increase efficiency and decrease costs for closed diagnostics platforms. i2O Therapeutics raised a $46 million Series A funding round and acquired six clinical assets from Intarcia to advance its development of oral formulations of therapies that are currently only available via injection. Pluto was awarded the High Performer badge in the Best Pharma & Biotech Software report from G2 Grid. Sherlock Biosciences won a $1,299,440 grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to support development of an HPV molecular diagnostic test on its Veros Platform, and opened a new diagnostics manufacturing facility in Swavesey, UK. eGenesis released data showing that their gene-edited pig kidneys transplanted into monkeys kept the primates alive for more than two years.
AWARDS & RECOGNITION Natalie Artzi was elected as a Fellow of the Controlled Release Society. Sangeeta Bhatia was elected as a Foreign Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering (ATSE).
Wyss Lumineer Nicole Black, VP of Biomaterials and Innovation at Desktop Health, was named one of MIT Technology Review’s 35 Innovators Under 35. Jim Collins was named a 2023 Clarivate Citation Laureate in Chemistry for work deemed to be of Nobel class. Chris Chen was promoted from a Wyss Associate Faculty member to a Core Faculty member, and Ellen Roche and Michael Springer were named new Associate Faculty members. The CircaVent team was awarded a $4.5 million grant from Breakthrough Discoveries for thriving with Bipolar Disorder (BD2) to advance its mission to determine the molecular causes of bipolar disorder and identify existing and new drugs that can improve the lives of the 40 million people suffering from the condition. Wyss Lumineer Eriona Hysolli, Head of Biological Sciences at Colossal, was named to Time Magazine’s 2023 TIME100 NEXT list. Don Ingber won the 2023 Russell & Burch Award from the Humane Society of the United States for his contributions to the advancement of Organ Chips as an alternative method to help replace animal testing in medicine. Samir Mitragotri received the 2023 Samyang award from the Controlled Release Society.
In Case You Missed It Our annual Impact Report describes the significant advances that the Wyss has made through a growing number of unique collaborations with industry sponsors, partner hospitals, and academic institutions that help us effectively bridge the divide between breakthrough scientific discovery and commercial success. The Wyss Institute is a “dream space” unlike any other, where we harness the creative power of our world-class scientists, engineers, and clinicians to change the world. But our breakthrough discoveries can’t change the world if they don’t leave the lab. We are always seeking partners who share our vision of addressing global challenges in healthcare and the environment through innovative science. Whether you’re interested in investing in our startups, supporting our next moonshot idea through philanthropy, or bringing us a problem to solve, we’d love to connect with you. Get in touch with Bob Cunningham or Jonelle PrillTate to learn how you can get involved.
Michael Springer won the Ledlie Prize for contributions to science and society from Harvard Medical School. The Wyss Institute won a BARDA contract to leverage human Organ Chips to advance knowledge and drug-discovery for broad range of health security threats.
Wyss Institute at Harvard University 201 Brookline Ave., Boston, MA 02215 wyss.harvard.edu