W Y S S I N S T I T U T E AT H A R VA R D U N I V E R S I T Y
14 Years of Technology Innovation I M PAC T R E P O R T | J U LY F Y 2 0 2 3
A Letter from the Founding Director
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y journey with the Wyss began almost 18 years ago in 2005 when Dave Mooney, Founding Core Faculty member of the Wyss, and I received a letter inviting us to co-chair a committee to envision the future of bioengineering across Harvard and its affiliated hospitals. It was the opportunity of a lifetime, one that would allow us to reimagine what science and technology would look like 30 years into the future. We learned this was inspired by an earlier visit to Harvard University by Hansjörg Wyss, who would become our namesake benefactor. He had met with many faculty, found them to be brilliant, but was struck by the way they seemed to work in silos and how they were not aware of what was going on in each other’s labs. He had a vision to see a new model of academic and industry collaboration come to life that crossed disciplines, something disruptive in a university environment that would have positive near-term impact. Inspired by this vision, we convened a few entrepreneurial faculty who had already started to collaborate across disciplines. We could see that the physical, biological, and engineering sciences were already starting to converge, and, as a result, that the boundaries between living and nonliving systems were literally beginning to break down. Together, we set out on a mission to transform healthcare and the environment by emulating the way Nature builds by establishing a new field that we called “biologically inspired engineering” in which we would leverage biological principles to develop new engineering innnovations. Aligned with Hansjörg’s vision that breakthrough discoveries can’t change the world if they don’t leave the lab, we knew the Wyss had to be more than just a research institute; we wanted it to be a translation institute. We passionately wanted to not only develop disruptive ideas, but to create new ways to enable the commercialization of those ideas into impactful products more quickly. In the 14 years since our Institute’s founding, both our vision and mission have been remarkably successful.
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By harnessing the ingenuity of our 11 Core and 15 Associate Faculty members, along with academic scientists, engineers, clinicians, and senior staff with product development experience, and empowering their ideas with support from our experts in business development, intellectual property, and entrepreneurship, the Wyss Institute enables a significant portion of all intellectual property and startups that emerge from Harvard annually. We set out to do what many thought was impossible, and I am tremendously proud of all that we have accomplished. I am grateful to Hansjörg Wyss for his unwavering, visionary support of the Wyss, and his belief in us to be the stewards of his vision. Thank you to everyone who has played a role in our history thus far – our faculty, our staff, our collaborating institutions, and our industry and philanthropic partners who inspire us to take on new, seemingly impossible challenges together. The story of the Wyss Institute is as much yours as it is mine, and I look forward to many more years of working together to further realize our mission to transform healthcare and the environment through disruptive innovation. With sincere thanks and appreciation,
Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D.
Founding Director and Core Faculty Member, Wyss Institute; Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital; Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Bioinspired Engineering, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Delivering positive near-term impact since 2009 Wyss Impact Report
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CELEBRATING
VISIONARY PHILANTHROPY The Wyss community gathered to celebrate Hansjörg Wyss and the Institute’s impressive pipeline of groundbreaking technologies that have transformed healthcare and the environment by emulating the way Nature builds
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ast October, Harvard University announced a generous gift of $350 million from Hansjörg Wyss (Harvard M.B.A. ’65) to support the mission of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard, helping to ensure that the Institute continues to make a positive impact in the world for years to come. This contribution builds upon Mr. Wyss’ initial $125 million gift that enabled the founding of the Institute, and his subsequent donations of $125 million in 2013 and $131 million in 2019 to enable the Institute to advance its pioneering work. On April 26 of this year, family, friends, and members of the Wyss community, including Harvard and its consortium partner institutions, gathered to celebrate the extraordinary accomplishments that the Wyss Institute has achieved over the last 14 years. Attendees were treated to a symposium highlighting the innovative therapeutics, diagnostics, materials, devices, and sustainability technologies developed by the Institute’s world-class faculty, students, fellows, and dedicated staff who collaborate across disciplines with the Institute’s outside partners in industry, academia, and the venture capital world. The afternoon culminated in a dinner that celebrated the vision of our namesake founder, Hansjörg Wyss.
The Celebrating Visionary Philanthropy event was hosted at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, of which Mr. Wyss and many of our faculty are elected members. Photo Credit: John Deputy
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In its relativity short history, the Wyss has developed and successfully enabled the commercialization of an impressive number of groundbreaking bioinspired technologies that address major problems in healthcare and sustainability, which have resulted in a remarkable positive impact on the broader Boston-Cambridge ecosystem and the entire world.
I have been tremendously proud to watch the Wyss Institute grow into the remarkable engine for innovation and entrepreneurship that it has become today and I want to recognize and congratulate the Institute’s leadership, entire faculty, and staff for working so tirelessly to realize my initial vision of working together across disciplines to solve some of the greatest challenges that we face as a society. It has been very gratifying to see the numerous advances in science and technology that have been achieved since the Institute was founded. I hope others will see what this team has accomplished in such a short time and join me in helping to build this incredible enterprise and expand its impact even further in the years to come. Hansjörg Wyss Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
The Wyss is home to visionary philanthropy
Mr. Wyss’ generosity has enabled the Institute to generate a pipeline of groundbreaking technologies that have transformed healthcare. Photo Credit: John Deputy
After an afternoon of presentations about advances the Institute’s researchers have made, guests attended dinner to celebrate the vision of Hansjörg Wyss. Photo Credit: John Deputy
We are a community passionate about disrupting the status quo by challenging ourselves and others to address seemingly impossible-tosolve problems and achieve impact through disruptive innovation. Our philanthropic and industry partners deploy their capital in a new way of giving that addresses existing funding gaps through continual investments spanning fundamental science, translational research, product development, and clinical medicine to effectively meet the needs of our global community and ensure the future of our planet. The Wyss’ unique translational model, world-renowned faculty, and stateof-the-art collaboratories generate an exceptional flow of scientific discoveries, academic publications, and patents in the fields of diagnostics, therapeutics, MedTech, and sustainability.
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14 Years of
Impact
Startups Launched: Accelera, NuProbe, Root Robotics (acquired by iRobot) Startups Launched: Adaptive Surface Technologies, EDITAS Medicine, Emulate, MediCollector, Soft Robotics, Voxel 8 (acquired by Kornit Digital)
First Wyss Startups Launched: enEvolv (acquired by Zymergen), Vapor Communications
First Wyss Technology Licensed to K-Team Corporation: Kilobots
2009
2010
2012
2013
An Inspiring Adventure
Wyss Institute launched with largest gift in Harvard’s history of $125M from founding entrepreneur and philanthropist Hansjörg Wyss
DARPA awards $12.3M to develop sepsis therapeutic device
DOE awards $4.2M to develop microbial fuel cells in national effort to change how the country produces energy NSF awards $10M to develop smallscale mobile robotic devices
Startups Launched: Editx Biotech (acquired by Seven Therapeutics), FreeFlow Medical Devices, ReadCoor (acquired by 10x Genomics)
Cancer vaccine enters Phase 1 clinical trials
2011
Self-Assembly
Startups Launched: Ultivue, Validere Technologies
Hansjörg Wyss doubles gift from $125M to $250M
DARPA awards $37M to integrate multiple Organ Chips to mimic the whole human body
2014
2015
A Vision for the Future NIH awards grant to advance brain ReWalk Robotics research using collaborates with Wyss DNA-PAINT Institute to develop wearable exosuits for FDA awards $5.3M patients with limited to develop Human mobility Organ Chips to evaluate therapies for lethal radiation exposure
DARPA awards grant to further develop soft exosuit
Wyss Institute leads $9.9M multi-institutional DARPA THoR grant to uncover underlying causes of tolerance to infection
At the Hansjörg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University 6
2016
Metalmark launches Tatama, the first self-cleaning commercial air purifier FitBiomics launches first product, Nella
Startups Launched: Tender Food, i2o Therapeutics, Manifold Bio, Metalmark, Pristine Surgical, Rejuvenate Bio, Torus Biosystems, Verve Motion Startups Launched: 64x Bio, Beacon Bio (acquired by Desktop Health), Imago Rehab, Nabla Bio, Pluto Biosciences, Rhinostics, Spear Bio, Trestle Biotherapeutics
Startups Launched: BOA Biomedical, eGenesis, GRO Biosciences, Holistick Medical, Prapela
Startups Launched: 3EO Health, AcousticaBio, EnPlusOne Biosciences, GC Therapeutics, Hitch Bio, Stata DX, Unravel Biosciences
Startups Launched: Cancer vaccine Dyno Therapeutics, Emulate’s Organ licensed to Novartis FitBiomics, Immulus, Chips to be used by FDA Kula Bio, Sherlock Biosciences, FDA issues Verve Therapeutics clearance for
2018
A Technology Revolution
First in vivo assembly approach for DNA and RNA origami gives nanotechnology new potential for drug delivery and fabrication DNA bricks advance nanotech from Mega to GigaDalton scale
2019
2020
3D Organ Engineering Initiative launched
2021
Impact Through Disruptive Innovation
Hansjörg Wyss gives third major gift of $131M
Northpond Labs Alliance launched
i3 Center launched to advance cancer therapy DARPA awards $23M to develop biostasis therapeutic Cystic Fibrosis Foundation awards grant to develop human Airway Chip
Immuno-Materials Platform launched
Startups Launched: Circe Bioscience, WurQ
ReWalk’s ReStore™ Exosuit for Stroke Therapy
Soft exosuit technology licensed to ReWalk Robotics
2017
Brain Targeting Program launched
Molecular Robotics Initiative launched Chan Zuckerberg Initiative awards grant to enable better diagnosis and monitoring of Parkinson’s disease
Prapela’s stimulation pad receives FDA Breakthrough Device Designation
eToeholds engineered to improve RNA therapeutics, cell therapies, and diagnostics
2022
2023
Reimagining the World Hansjörg Wyss Gives Fourth Transformational Gift of $350M Complex tissues programmed in 3D Kraft Heinz partners with Wyss Institute to make sugar healthier Brigham-Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator and Industrial Participant Program launched
Brain Targeting Program industry collaboration launched DARPA awards $16M to repurpose FDAapproved drugs to prevent or treat COVID-19
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Solving IMPOSSIBLE PROBLEMS
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s an organization, we don’t shy away from difficult problems, we embrace them. Our reputation precedes us: the Wyss Institute has received more than $450 million over the last 14 years from the likes of DARPA, the NIH, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Kraft Heinz, and others. We’re using those funds to find new cures for cancer, diagnose diseases earlier and better, decarbonize industries, restore mobility, improve drug delivery, treat hard-to-reach brain diseases, and more. In our next decade, we plan to continue our commitment to proving that such “impossible” problems are indeed solvable, and look forward to working with new partners who are excited to build solutions together.
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Inspired by Nature to improve the lives of patients and protect our planet
Kraft Heinz partnership makes sugar healthier
Alfred P. Sloan Foundation grant
Biostasis project
The Kraft Heinz Company came to the Wyss with a seemingly impossible challenge: remove the “bad” sugars from processed foods without altering current manufacturing methods. Our engineers turned that problem on its head: rather than trying to remove sugar from these products, why not figure out a way to inhibit its absorption once consumed, preventing its harmful effects on human health? That collaboration spawned a novel sugar-tofiber technology that is now on track to be spun out into a startup.
This funded program sounds like science fiction: uncover the design principles that assemble non-living matter like atoms and molecules into living cells and organisms. But the Wyss Institute is now working to investigate what makes life, life. Multiple Wyss faculty members are collaborating across disciplines using computational models, DNA nanotechnology, molecular imaging, self-assembling artificial organs and organisms, and more, with the aim of opening up an entirely new field of science.
Tardigrades can do it, brine shrimp can do it, and one day, maybe humans will be able to do it: enter a state of biological suspended animation. The Biostasis project is racing toward that goal, having successfully identified compounds that can preserve whole pig organs outside the body for hours at room temperature by slowing their activities, then successfully reactivate them. The team has also used these compounds to put whole tadpoles into biostasis and revive them with no harm to the animals.
Protecting OUR PLANET
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lanet Earth is in trouble, and it is largely humanity’s fault. While the climate crisis is complex and multifaceted, our everincreasing production and burning of fossil fuels is a major driver of the problem and in need of the most urgent solutions. Energy and agriculture combined make up roughly 90% of greenhouse gas emissions. Wyss Institute teams are creating innovations that can dramatically reduce electricity use, the carbon footprint of meat, and more, to help restore the balance of our planet’s ecosystems and make it habitable for future generations.
Collaborative Fund In May, the Wyss Institute signed a $15 million agreement with Collaborative Fund - a world renowned venture fund with a focus on sustainability - to create a Laboratory for Sustainable Materials Research and Innovation, further cementing our commitment to developing innovations to improve the health of our planet. The long-term strategic partnership aims to bolster Wyss projects that have the potential to solve pressing unmet environmental problems, particularly in biomanufacturing, clean air, and water. Collaborative Fund has over a decade of experience investing in successful climate technology startups.
Tender Food: Meat-free meat well done Wyss startup Tender Food, which makes whole cuts of plant-based meat, has launched two products that received positive feedback from thousands of customers. “The excitement around alternative proteins has slowed down a bit recently because those products are still not good enough for most people – they lack taste, texture, and variety. We’re creating the next generation of higherquality products, starting by replicating the common building blocks of all meat: muscle fibers.” – Christophe Chantre, Wyss Lumineer and CEO, Tender Food.
Eco-friendly air conditioning
Watch how we’re feeding the world sustainably It’s been predicted that if we continue to rely on conventional agriculture, we only have 60 years of stable food production left. In this video, meet the Wyss startups that are working to make food more sustainable.
As global warming continues to rise, the demand for air conditioning is predicted to skyrocket worldwide. The cSNAP team is building an evaporative cooling system that uses a fraction of the energy of traditional A/C, uses water instead of harmful refrigerant chemicals to achieve
its cooling effects, and can be easily installed in existing buildings. cSNAP successfully cooled a room in Harvard’s HouseZero during record-high temperatures in summer 2022, and the team is further optimizing the technology with hopes of launching a startup in the near future.
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IMPROVING
WOMEN’S HEALTH
Women make up more than 50% of the world’s population, but their unique health needs have received only a fraction of the research, investment, and funding that they deserve. Case in point: 38 drugs are currently FDA-approved to treat prostate cancer, but only four drugs are approved for vaginal cancer. As an Institute whose scientists are driven to seek out and find solutions for significant unmet needs, we’re proud to report that 25% of our research projects in 2022 were focused on improving women’s health. To help bring that number up to 50%, this year we also launched the Women’s Health Catalyst: an internal consortium that seeks to connect Wyss scientists working in women’s health with each other and with external resources and collaborators.
Helping mothers feed their babies 50% of mothers worldwide have trouble making enough milk for their babies, but there are no FDAapproved treatments to increase breast milk production. Wyss researchers have engineered a novel protein therapeutic that can increase milk production safely for both mother and infant, and can be selfadministered at home once a week. Our researchers have won funding from the Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator at Harvard Medical School and the Northpond Director’s Fund to advance their first-in-class therapeutic to the market to improve global maternal and infant health.
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Safer breast reconstruction for cancer survivors Breast cancer is the most common cancer worldwide, and most survivors have breast reconstruction following a mastectomy. But their only options are artificial implants, which themselves can cause cancer, or flaps of fat tissue taken from elsewhere in their own bodies, which carry the risk of surgical complications. A Wyss team is using the SWIFT bioprinting method to 3D-print implantable tissue flaps grown from a patient’s own cells that contain blood vessels and can be surgically connected to the patient’s own vasculature. They are currently validating the technology in vivo, and hope to be able to offer breast cancer patients a safer alternative in the future.
Ovarian organoids to help solve infertility Infertility is a growing global problem, and more people are turning to reproductive technologies like IVF to conceive Listen to interview babies. But current IVF treatments wreak havoc on a woman’s body, and the hormones she must inject herself with are expensive and not always accessible. Gameto, which spun out of the Wyss Institute in 2022, is creating human ovarian organoids to support the maturation of human eggs ex vivo. This process could greatly reduce the amount of hormones needed (thus reducing cost and physical burden) and increase the number of viable eggs a woman can produce for IVF.
A human Vagina Chip to study bacterial vaginosis 30% of reproductive-aged women around the globe suffer from bacterial vaginosis (BV), a disruption of the normal vaginal microbiome that doubles the risk of sexually transmitted infections and increases the risk of pre-term birth in pregnant women. Standard treatment with antibiotics is not effective, and the condition often recurs. Wyss researchers have created a human Vagina Chip, an in vitro model that replicates many of the physiological traits of human vaginal tissue including its microbiome. The Vagina Chip can be inoculated with different strains of bacteria to study the effects of the vaginal microbiome on the organ’s health and it is currently being used to develop more effective treatments for BV that will soon enter human clinical trials.
Watch to learn more about the Vagina Chip
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ACCELERATING
PATIENT DIAGNOSTICS Better disease prevention and management starts with a better diagnosis
Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator The Wyss Diagnostics Accelerator (DxA) is shortening the timeline required to develop urgently needed diagnostics from earlystage conception to clinical validation. Its unique collaborative ecosystem enables clinicians at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, industry partners, and the Wyss’ highly multidisciplinary research and engineering community to work hand-in-hand to transform the landscape of diagnostics and help save lives. More than 50 unmet diagnostic needs have been identified by clinical collaborators so far, and three are being pursued through collaboration with Wyss scientists this year (see right).
Liaising with industry
The Wyss DxA’s Industrial Participant Program (IPP) has transitioned from a pilot stage into an official program within the Harvard ecosystem. It provides its 24 affiliated companies with a forum to partner and opportunities to expand their experience in market, manufacturing, user experience, and regulatory processes to maximize their potential impact. Contact Rushdy Ahmad to get involved with the IPP.
Generous donors enable our three inaugural DxA projects Lyme Attack A diagnosis of Lyme disease, the most common vector-borne disease in the United States with an estimated 476,000 cases per year, can have devastating long-term impact on patients, but accurate diagnosis remains a challenge.
Early diagnosis
To detect the disease at its earliest stages, a team assembled by Wyss Faculty members Natalie Artzi, James Collins, and David Walt is developing a diagnostic point-of-care method able to sample the Lyme pathogen’s DNA from the skin of patients and amplify it at room temperature for easy results.
Ultrasensitive and multiplexed diagnosis The second Lyme disease project led by Wyss Core Faculty member Peng Yin applies DNA nanotechnology to the detection of the smallest amounts of Lyme disease antigens – small features of the pathogen’s proteins that are recognized by the immune system and can be detected with the group’s SPEAR technique.
Blood Clot Alarm
Watch how we are working to get diagnostics to patients faster
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A high proportion of patients with pleural mesothelioma, a lung cancer triggered by asbestos exposure, are at risk of developing life-threatening blood clots. A team headed by Founding Director Donald Ingber and Raphael Bueno, one of the “top doctors” for this form of cancer in the US, is building a microfluidic monitoring device for the rapid prediction of blood clotting in mesothelioma patients.
Brendan MacMillan: A Connector Between the Philanthropic and Research Worlds As Chief Investment Officer of (qp) Global, Brendan MacMillan manages investments and overall affairs for a collection of single-family offices that (qp) has set up and oversees on behalf of successful families from around the globe. Many of (qp) Global’s families seek opportunities to bridge funding gaps to support early technologies that show significant promise but remain unfunded. “Brendan’s awareness and commitment to our research is vital,” said Jonelle Prill-Tate, Associate Director of Strategic Engagement. “Many highly innovative projects are just too risky for VCs and that is where philanthropic investments really matter.” As a Harvard alumnus, a judge of Harvard’s annual i-Lab competition, and attendee of the Wyss’ Annual Retreat, Brendan makes a point to regularly learn about Wyss projects. This year (qp) Global facilitated a significant philanthropic gift to establish Harvard’s first fund for the Wyss DxA, igniting the Wyss Institute’s commitment to change the paradigm of diagnostics. Brendan’s commitment to our vision will be a major catalyst to seeing it into fruition.
I am really impressed by the Wyss DxA. It is a unique and tangible program in which researchers and practitioners collaborate on diagnostic problems at the frontlines of healthcare and develop life-changing solutions. Fortunately, the families we serve felt the same and we are pleased to have helped shepherd a significant gift to the Wyss DxA.
We know what causes Lyme disease, and how to best prevent and treat it. Nevertheless, Lyme disease remains the most common vector-borne illness in the US and too many patients have problems recovering. Every aspect - from prevention, to early diagnosis, to monitoring patients during and after recovery - would highly benefit from additional and improved diagnostics. Nancy Shadick
Clinical Spotlight: Nancy Shadick Rheumatic disease and Lyme arthritis expert Nancy Shadick, M.D., M.P.H., is an Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and rheumatologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital with more than 30 years of experience in clinical Lyme disease research. As the Wyss DxA’s clinical expert on Lyme, she imparts her deep knowledge of the illness and helps guide the creation of diagnostics for different aspects of the disease. Critical for our diagnostic technology development, Dr. Shadick recruits patients to the Wyss DxA’s diagnostic studies and provides crucial samples and indispensable patient information.
Become a part of the Wyss DxA’s vision The Wyss DxA is committed to solving global challenges by engaging with visionary leaders. Newly formed partnerships are created to fit personal passions or institutional missions, and uniquely focus on deploying capital in a new way of giving that bridges philanthropy and investment to effectively meet the needs of millions of patients around the world. Contact Jonelle Prill-Tate to start a conversation about making an impact.
Brendan MacMillan Wyss Impact Report
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DELIVERING DRUGS WHERE THEY NEED TO GO
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he problem of effectively delivering drugs to the cells that need them, as well as directing cell therapies to their target tissues, causes dangerous side-effects, or prevents therapies from being developed in the first place. Wyss researchers are approaching this challenge from different angles to advance highlytargeted precision therapeutics.
Watch how we’re making drugs faster, safer, and more effective Wyss researchers are using an ever-growing number of human Organ Chips that recreate the structure and functions of living tissues and organs to accelerate drug development for a wide number of unmet diseases, as well as understand what causes them. This effort has resulted in the discovery of new disease mechanisms and progression of drugs to human clinical trials. More recently, they added a human Vagina Chip and a personalized Barrett’s Esophagus Chip to their arsenal, and created in vitro models of COVID-19 drug effects, human vaccination responses, and environmental enteric dysfunction in malnourished children.
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The thing about the Wyss that attracted me most was the novel, disruptive, groundbreaking technology, and the emphasis on having real-world impact to deliver better healthcare and positive outcomes for people. Neal Muni Wyss Mentor Hive
A GPS for cell therapy Therapeutic cells need to be better at finding diseased tissues in the body. The SomaCode platform identifies molecular signatures present in diseased cells that can be used as a “zip code” to which engineered therapeutic cells can be delivered, like a mail truck using GPS to deliver packages.
Spotlight: Neal Muni, Mentor Hive Neal Muni, Founder and Managing Director of RTK Group, a biopharmaceutical advisory and investment practice, also lends a hand to the Wyss Mentor Hive, which was established to connect the Wyss’ entrepreneurial scientists with investors, clinical and regulatory experts, and serial entrepreneurs. Neal provides our teams with critical advice on how to advance therapeutics to commercialization, taking a deep dive with them into technology development, partnering with industry, FDA regulation, Investigational New Drug-enabling studies, and company formation.
Claire Zeng and the DoriVac Team
Watch how we’re training the immune system to fight cancer The Immuno-Materials Platform, led by Core Faculty member David Mooney, has developed a biomaterial-based vaccine technology that opened up new opportunities to fight difficult-to-treat cancers by activating the immune system. Working collaboratively with cancer researchers at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the team demonstrated their approach to be effective in patients, which led to a licensing agreement with Novartis. At the Wyss, we are continuing to expand this approach to personalize it and identify ways to treat more diseases.
Watch how we’re reimagining treatment for severe fungal infections More than 1.6 million people die from fungal infections each year, and existing anti-fungal drugs can be toxic and extremely painful. Wyss researchers and infectious disease physicians have developed FeCILL, a targeted delivery vehicle in the form of a liposome whose outer surface is studded with an engineered immune protein. This protein binds to pathogenic fungi but not healthy cells, and only then do FeCILL particles release their payload.
The DoriVac team is pioneering vaccines using DNA nanotechnology. Nanotechnology expert and cancer immunologist Claire Zeng and the DoriVac team won the 2022 Alnylam BioVenture Challenge Award for their novel concept. DoriVac’s tiny DNA origami structures allow a new level of precision in antigen and adjuvant presentation to the immune system. This unique capability could lead to more effective and personalized vaccines and therapeutics against hard-to-treat cancers and infectious diseases.
Backpacks against MS A major driver of multiple sclerosis (MS) is nerve inflammation. By attaching tiny anti-inflammatory drugreleasing discs called “backpacks” to myeloid cells (the cells that trigger nerve inflammation), Wyss researchers can turn these potentially dangerous cells into therapeutic ones.
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CROSSING THE ULTIMATE BARRIER TO TREATING BRAIN DISEASES
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ur knowledge about brain diseases, their causes, and their impact on patients and families is steadily growing. Yet, our ability to treat them is extremely limited. For Alzheimer’s disease alone, over the past 10 years almost 300 drugs have been tested in more than 1,000 clinical trials – but 99.6% of them have failed. A significant cause of this failure rate is that most drugs cannot be efficiently delivered across the blood-brain barrier (BBB). Less than 1% of most drugs enter the brain from the bloodstream. To solve this formidable challenge, we created an ambitious Brain Targeting Program
(BTP), led by James Gorman and Donald Ingber, that unites the freedom and creativity of academia with the drug development expertise and resources of industry. The BTP uses bioinspired engineering approaches to discover brain transport shuttles that dramatically improve delivery of drugs across the BBB. We are preparing to test our three lead shuttles, linked to therapeutics, in animal models of neurodegenerative diseases, such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, brain tumors, rare genetic disorders, and psychiatric diseases.
Reimagining brain disease treatment and prevention Technology Development Fellow Ana Raquel Santa Maria is leading a technology development team as part of the Brain Targeting Program. Ana has been inspired to reimagine the world with better understanding, treatment, and prevention of brain diseases after seeing her grandparents suffer as they age, especially her grandmother who has dementia. Read and listen to Ana tell her story.
Dawn of a new academic-industry collaboration model
Staff Scientist and member of the Advanced Technology Team Liqun Wang is leading a technology development team as part of the Brain Targeting Program.
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Five partnered sponsor companies currently participate in the BTP’s Brain Shuttle Discovery Project. Most recently, Merck (Merck, Sharpe and Dohme, LLC) joined Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, BristolMyers Squibb Company, Lundbeck A/S, and Visterra Inc. as sponsors of our novel pre-competitive program. In addition, we collaborate with Cell Signaling Technologies, Inc., FairJourney Biologics, and Lundbeck A/S in
separate co-development and collaboration partnerships on specific brain shuttle projects. The project’s success benefits drug development at the Wyss, at our sponsor and partner companies, and throughout the entire field of drug delivery to the brain. In July 2022, the Wyss team hosted our first in-person meeting with our sponsors’ and partners’ teams, resulting in a broad exchange of information and ideas.
Measurable milestones Our lead brain targeting shuttle increases the uptake of test drugs into the brain by 10- to 60-fold, which is as good or better than the best shuttles reported by leading companies. Our goal is to develop an extensive panel of shuttles tailored to specific brain diseases and drugs. In the past year, we demonstrated the activity of two additional shuttles
binding different transport targets, each of which offers distinct features to improve drug delivery for specific brain diseases. In a multi-institution collaboration, we have identified three potential novel BBB transport proteins over the past year, which we are evaluating as targets for drug-delivering brain transport shuttles.
The complexity of this problem makes it challenging for individual research institutions or companies to solve on their own. This collaboration offers a compelling opportunity to discover new approaches for drug delivery to the brain. Richard Hargreaves Senior Vice President and Head, Neuroscience Thematic Research Center Bristol-Myers Squibb
Watch how we’re improving brain disease treatment
An extraordinary gift opportunity We are seeking support from passionate donors to enable us to expand our brain shuttle discovery efforts and realize their full potential in the development of diseasefocused brain-targeted therapeutics. To discuss how you can help defeat brain diseases that matter to you and learn about the important support that can be provided by different gifts, contact Jonelle Prill-Tate.
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MOLECULAR ROBOTICS THE NEXT FRONTIER Self-assembling molecules that can be programmed like robots to carry out specific tasks without requiring power are accelerating diagnostics and therapeutics
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y programming the self-assembly and other unique behaviors of DNA and RNA molecules, Wyss Faculty members Peng Yin, William Shih, and Wesley Wong are creating nanostructures that function as “molecular robots” capable of diagnosing disease, acting as programmable therapeutics, and instructing the behavior of human cells. Nurtured by a continuous stream of groundbreaking discoveries and technology developments from their groups, the Molecular Robotics Initiative’s vision is inching closer toward impacting patients’ lives. Following a first wave of diagnostic startups, new translational efforts are forging ahead.
Light-Seq revolution Imaging a specific type of cell within intact tissues, sequencing their full gene expression profiles, and then doing it again for different cell types in the same sample has been a dream for researchers in many fields. Now, LightSeq, developed by Peng Yin’s lab as a next-generation DNA nanotechnology-driven “spatial transcriptomics” method, enables exactly this, and thus a deeper understanding of many cellular processes.
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Multi-origami megastructures Using their new concept of crisscross polymerization, William Shih and his group programmed the selfassembly of more than 1,000 pre-assembled DNA origami nanostructures into megastructures with variable sizes, custom shapes, and functionalized surfaces. These could allow unprecedented emergence-of-life studies, the design of new lens-like optical instruments, therapeutic cellular control units, tissue engineering materials, and much more.
Blavatnik acceleration William Shih has been awarded a grant from Harvard’s Blavatnik Biomedical Accelerator to develop a DNA origami method for delivering mRNA therapeutics into target cells’ cytoplasm, where they can become active therapeutics.
Northpond’s Next Venture: DNA Nanoswitches The Wyss Institute’s Laboratory for Bioengineering Research and Innovation, funded by Northpond Labs, has chosen its third project: the Lab-on-a-Molecule Drug Discovery Project, to support on its path to commercialization. In this project, Associate Faculty member Wesley Wong and his team are using their previously invented DNA nanoswitches – tiny precision instruments that can not only bind to proteins but also affect their interactions with other proteins – to find effective drugs against difficult-to-drug targets in a high-throughput platform
able to screen thousands of compounds. Lab-on-aMolecule follows in the footsteps of three other projects funded by Northpond: the EnPlusOne project, which was spun out into the Wyss RNA solutions startup EnPlusOne Biosciences; the cell therapyfocused SomaCode project; and, the Lyme Disease Therapeutics project.
Lab-on-a-Molecule startup team members Wesley Wong, Clinton Hansen, and Mark Lipstein.
This animation shows how DNA Nanoswitches can be used to characterize molecules that stabilize the binding of two disease-relevant targets. Wyss Impact Report
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A Letter from the Chief Operating Officer
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he Wyss Institute and our vibrant community have always thrived by crossing disciplines, which has helped to catalyze the convergence of diverse scientific areas. This spirit of crosspollination has enabled our development of numerous successful technologies and startups, and we’re excited to take this collaborative ethos to an entirely new level. As the global landscape transforms, we see an opportunity to harness the vast potential of our shared human capital. This means more than simply merging intellectual prowess and technical skills. It’s about leveraging the depth of our networks and relationships to effect transformative change, not just for the scientific community, but for all people around the world. We have always been adept at bridging the gap between academia and industry, innovating for the betterment of both the health of humanity and our shared planet. Now, we look to broaden our horizons and deepen our integration into philanthropic, venture capitalist, and industrial sectors. We are moving to 201 Brookline in the heart of the Fenway area, which will usher in a new exciting era for our Institute and put us in an emerging neighborhood for Boston’s thriving biotech ecosystem. We will be welcomed as neighbors in 201 Brookline by two of our own successful Wyss startups (Verve Therapeutics and Manifold Bio), as well as one of the world’s leading venture capital firms (Third Rock Ventures). This proximity to cutting-edge startups, venture capitalists, and other important stakeholders will foster an environment of rapid ideation and accelerated development, promoting the growth of new scientific and business relationships. Our initiative further extends into diversifying our funding sources and exploring the challenges that resonate with our partners and our community. Our commitment is not merely to pursue breakthrough science for discovery’s sake or mere technological advancement, but to focus on those “impossible” problems that hold the greatest potential for positive human and planetary impact.
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We envision new gift opportunities that support our core values, such as funding young scientists, promoting entrepreneurial education, expanding our scientific depth through the appointment of named faculty and staff, and mentoring the next generation of innovators. Every complex problem takes a multitude of solutions and myriad approaches to bring about successful change. What Hansjörg Wyss and the Institute have really enabled are the capabilities and the ingenuity to take a variety of different innovative approaches to confront a single important grand challenge. This is why I am so incredibly proud of the Wyss and personally grateful, not only to Mr. Wyss, but to our entire community – faculty, staff, students, postdoctoral and clinical fellows, industry partners, and collaborators, including the entire Harvard University ecosystem and our colleagues at the Harvard Office for Technology Development – for inspiring, challenging, and pushing each other every day so that we can effect real, actionable change. We have a wealth of academic and industry experience and knowledge that we can continually draw from, and all of you help contribute to our shared success. Together, we leverage our strengths to create a new era of science and engineering that serves and uplifts humanity. I invite you to join us as we take the next steps in this exciting journey, and look forward to the potential partnerships and shared successes that lie ahead.
Angelika Fretzen, Ph.D., M.B.A. Technology Translation Director & COO Wyss Institute at Harvard University
Discoveries can‘t change the world if they don‘t leave the lab.
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WYSS FENWAY MIGRATION TO
201 Brookline
After more than a decade at the Center for Life Sciences in the Longwood Medical Area, we couldn’t be more excited to take root in our new habitat only a few blocks away
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his summer we will be leaving our original space at 3 Blackfan Circle and taking up residence in the brand-new 201 Brookline Avenue building a mere 5-10 minute walk away, helping to further expand the Longwood Medical Area into Boston’s Fenway region. The 107,000 square-foot facility is being purpose-built to support the Wyss Institute’s next chapter of successful technology translation and innovation.
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It will provide our community with state-of-theart “collaboratories” designed specifically to enable the Wyss Institute’s unique approach of organic self-assembly, transdisciplinary collaboration, and scientific agility to tackle the world’s toughest problems.
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The three floors of our new habitat will be connected by a central open stairwell that also embodies our culture of breaking down silos to facilitate more fruitful collaborations across our diverse technology platforms and functional teams.
We have been moving quickly to secure key stakeholders as our new labs and equipment are placed to ensure that our researchers experience limited downtime during the transition.
s we enter this exciting next chapter, we hope to expand our collaborative equipment facilities through key partnerships with industry that will ignite new breakthrough research.
A Team Effort Rob Rasmussen, Mike Carr (pictured), Katie Jenkins, and many others have been working tirelessly with Alexandria Real Estate, JLL, SmithGroup, and Suffolk Construction to customize our new habitat for the next decade and beyond.
State-of-the-art lab facilities Super-charging the development of projects and technologies with cutting-edge facilities, including state-of-the-art analytical capabilities for therapeutics development and biomarker discovery.
New convening and collaborative work spaces Facilitating new hybrid ways of working together.
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STARTUP, LICENSING, AND COLLABORATION
OPPORTUNITIES Discoveries can’t change the world if they don’t leave the lab. Join us in our mission to deliver positive near-term impact to the world.
Hydrogel Electrodes for Safer Implants
DoriVac: A Novel Vaccine Delivery Platform
Cellular “Backpacks” to Slow Tumor Growth
Our soft hydrogel electrodes conduct electricity via a flexible network of carbon nanotubes and graphene flakes, and can be tuned to match the physical properties of different human tissues. They can be used as safer implants for organs including the brain, heart, muscle, and potentially more.
DoriVac uses DNA origami nanotechnology and immune activators in precisely shaped multi-functional nanostructures to stimulate stronger, longerlasting immune responses against both cancer and infectious diseases. The team has established a low-cost and large-scale manufacturing method and is aiming for commercialization.
Nanoparticle backpacks can be loaded with inflammatory cytokines and attached to macrophages, a type of white blood cell. This enables macrophages to infiltrate tumors and activate the tumor microenvironment to kill cancer cells.
Faculty Lead
Dave Mooney
Contact
Ally Chang
Faculty Lead
William Shih
Contact
Ally Chang
Faculty Lead
Samir Mitragotri
Contact
Ally Chang
Collaborate with us We employ a unique model of technology translation within academia. Technologies conceived in our research laboratories are refined and de-risked technically and commercially by our Advanced Technology and Business Development teams. We seek entrepreneurial investors and industrial partners who can help us bring our technologies to market. Please get in touch if you are interested in working with us to form a new startup, license a technology, or if you would like to join the Wyss Mentor Hive. Contact
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Angelika Fretzen
AminoX: Real-Time Tissue Protein Detection
HarborSite: Safe and Durable Gene Therapies
Pancreatitis Tx: A Novel Pancreatitis Treatment
Current techniques for identifying biomolecules in tissue samples are expensive, time-consuming, and don’t work for all molecules. Our AminoX biosensors enable wash-free protein detection with immediate readouts using novel light-emitting amino acids, and can be used in a wide range of applications.
Gene therapies are an attractive treatment for many diseases, but achieving safe, long-term expression of delivered genes is challenging. HarborSite is a novel genome editing platform that enables efficient integration of genes into genomic “safe harbor” sites for durable expression.
Pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreas, is a common and sometimes fatal condition that lacks drugs to treat it. We have developed an engineered protein that inhibits trypsin, the disease’s primary cause. The therapeutic shows preclinical promise and is easy to manufacture.
Faculty Leads George Church, Jim Collins
Faculty Lead
George Church
Faculty Lead
Pam Silver
Contact
Bill Bedell
Contact
Alex Li
Contact
Bill Bedell
FeCILL: Therapeutic for Invasive Fungal Infections
AquaPulse: Portable Offthe-Grid Water Purification
Duplex RNA Tx
Invasive fungal infections kill more than 1.6 million people every year. Current anti-fungal therapies are ineffective and toxic. We’re developing the FeCILL technology, which solves this problem by concentrating drugs at fungal cell walls, increasing efficacy, and reducing toxicity.
More than 2 billion people don’t have access to clean water. Water filtration systems are available, but filters are easily clogged and require time and money to replace. Our AquaPulse technology uses electricity to kill bacteria, parasites, and viruses, making water safe to drink cheaply and easily.
A new class of immunostimulatory short duplex RNAs induce production of type I and type III interferons, resulting in pan-antiviral and anti-cancer activity. This technology is disease-agnostic and can be used to prevent and treat viral, bacterial, fungal, and parasitic infections, as well as many types of cancer.
Faculty Lead
Don Ingber
Faculty Lead
Don Ingber
Contact
Alex Li
Contact
Ken Carlson
Faculty Leads Don Ingber Dave Mooney Contact
Paul Resnick
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WYSS-ENABLED
STARTUPS AND LICENSING NEWS 7+ Technologies Licensed in the Last Year
Therapeutics
MedTech
Clade Therapeutics licensed IP related to genomic safe harbors that could enable efficacious, safe, and durable cell therapies.
Gameto licensed a cell engineering platform to generate ovarian cell lines that mimic the functions of human ovarian cells, with the goal of developing therapeutics for female reproductive diseases.
Wyss startup Dyno Therapeutics licensed IP and is applying generative artificial intelligence and highthroughput experimentation to engineer improved adeno-associated virus (AAV) capsids for potential use in gene therapies to treat a wide range of diseases. Wyss startup Unravel Biosciences licensed a drug discovery platform technology invented at the Wyss to accelerate the development of new and more effective therapies for complex diseases, starting with Rett syndrome – for which they plan to start a human clinical trial soon.
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Project 1985, launched by Harvard and 1955 Capital, is developing the Wyss’ pop-up manufacturing technology for minimally invasive robot-assisted surgery. Wyss startup WurQ leverages AI and existing wearables to identify critical movements during physical work, and assess their amount, quality, and intensity.
Sustainability
Validation Project Pipeline
Wyss startup Circe Bioscience launched to commercialize a gas-fermentation-based technology that uses engineered microbes to convert greenhouse gases into fats for use in food products.
This past year we awarded 16 technology development teams with additional funding and business development support to help accelerate their path towards real world impact. Stay tuned this fall to see what our next class of Validation Projects will bring.
FEATURED
STARTUP NEWS Clinical Impact Emulate published a landmark paper demonstrating that its human Liver Chip was able to correctly identify 87% of drugs that caused liver injury to patients, despite passing safety testing in animals. This technology also helped to usher in the FDA Modernization Act that was approved by Congress in December 2022, which now allows data from human Organ Chips to be included in new drug applications in lieu of animal data. FreeFlow Medical Devices has won a NIH Phase 2 grant to support clinical development of a hemodialysis catheter with an anticoagulant coating that prevents clot formation, which is a major cause of health problems in dialysis patients. Prapela won first place and $50,000 in the MedTech Innovator/ Children’s National Pediatric Innovation Challenge for its device that prevents sleep apnea
in pre-term infants. Prapela was also awarded a new cooperative SBIR grant, along with Tufts University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham, from the NIH to improve the treatment of apnea of prematurity using its proprietary vibrating mattress technology. Rejuvenate Bio announced new data from a pilot study of its gene therapy RJB-01 in dogs with mitral valve disease (MVD), which demonstrated that the therapy was able to delay progression of the disease and reduce disease-related heart enlargement. Verve Therapeutics has dosed the first patient with its in vivo CRISPR-based gene editing therapy as a potential treatment for heterozygous familial hypercholesterolemia (HeFH).
Regulatory Approval Prapela received FDA Breakthrough Device Designation to investigate the use of its vibrating mattress pad to treat apnea in premature infants, in addition to its previous designation to treat prenatal opioid exposure. Pristine Surgical received FDA 510(k) clearance for Summit™, the world’s first 4K single-use surgical arthroscope.
Product Launches Fitbiomics will soon launch their second product Veillonella – the world’s first lactic acid metabolizer. FitBiomics also signed five-time Olympic swimming gold medalist Nathan Adrian as spokesperson for its nextgen probiotic Nella.
Manifold Bio raised a $40M series A round to expand its in vivo biologics design platform. Pluto Biosciences raised a $3.7M seed round, led by Silverton Partners, to revolutionize biological data interpretation and accelerate life sciences discoveries. Unravel Biosciences raised $500K from three investors, including Massachusetts General Hospital and RTK Group.
Additional Milestones Metalmark launched its Tatama commercial air purifier, which uses advanced HEPA-grade filters with proprietary embedded materials to capture airborne particulates, smoke, VOCs, and pathogens, including viruses, bacteria, and mold.
Tender Food has started serving its meat-free pulled pork and chicken breast to customers at Saus at Bow Market in Somerville, MA.
Funding EnPlusOne Biosciences raised $12M in seed funding to launch its enzymatic RNA synthesis platform. i2o Therapeutics raised a total of $33.5M from 17 investors in an equity round to support development of its ionicliquid technology for oral delivery of biologics.
64x Bio was named to Bloomberg’s 2022 New Economy Catalyst List. Emulate was named one of 2023’s Top 10 Most Innovative Biotech Companies by Fast Company. Desktop Health opened new R&D lab space in Boston to drive development of its PhonoGraft™ device for repairing chronically perforated eardrums. Desktop Health and PhonoGraft were also featured in an awardwinning documentary film called “Pathways to Invention.” Trestle Biotherapeutics was named one of KidneyX Artificial Kidney Prize Phase 2 winners by the KidneyX Innovation Accelerator. Trestle also joined the Wellcome Leap HOPE program focused on bioengineering complex human organs and immune system interactions.
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WYSS COMMUNITY
AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS FACULTY AWARDS
Award for Excellence
14 Wyss Faculty members were named Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate in 2022. Joanna Aizenberg won the 2023 National Award in Colloid Chemistry from the American Chemical Society. Natalie Artzi received the Brigham Ignite Award, honoring Brigham and Women’s Hospital Innovators. Artzi was also named Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School.
Christopher Chen was elected to the National Academy of Inventors. Jim Collins was named one of Fierce Pharma’s most influential people in biopharma in 2023. Don Ingber won the 2022 NIMS Award from the Japan National Institute for Materials Science.
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Amanda Graveline, Director of Veterinary Services, received the Ayis Antoniou Award for Excellence in Administration & Operations in 2022. Associate Director of Research Operations, Mike Carr, was the inaugural award recipient in 2021.
Samir Mitragotri won the 2023 Doing a World of Good Medal from the American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Pam Silver was elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and was selected by the International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology to deliver the organization’s Jubilee Award Lecture in September 2024. Wyss Scientific Advisory Board member Jennifer Elisseeff was also elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Conor Walsh was named to the list of 50 Tech Power Players of 2023 by The Boston Globe. David Walt won the 2023 Fritz J. and Dolores H. Russ Prize from the National Academy of Engineering.
STUDENT AND STAFF AWARDS Elizabeth Carstens and Claire Zeng were selected as the third recipients of Harvard’s “Immuno-engineering to Improve Immunotherapy” (i3) Center award. Angelika Fretzen was nominated for the 2023 Joseph B. Martin Dean’s Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women Staff by the Joint Committee on the Status of Women at Harvard.
Girija Goyal won the 2022 immunoSEQ Women in Immune Science (WISE) Award from Adaptive Biotechnologies Corporation. Avinash ManjulaBasavanna was named a 2022 Wunderkind by STAT News. Ana Carolina Villar de Jimenez won a 2023 Smart Women in Meetings Innovator Award.
ENTREPRENEURIAL AWARDS AND RECOGNITION Erik Aznauryan and Tina Lebar won the Alnylam BIO High Impact Award for their innovative HarborSite gene therapy platform.
Ben Freedman and the Limax Biosciences team won the MassChallenge US Early Stage Award in the HealthTech category as part of MCRESOLVE23 for their tough adhesive hydrogel for wound healing and other applications.
Claire Zeng and the DoriVac team were awarded the SatchuBurgstone $25K Runner Up Prize in Harvard Business School’s 2023 New Venture Competition. The team also won third place at the Boston Chinese Investment Club biomedical pitch competition.
Seven Wyss faculty members were named to the 2022 BIOS Beaker List, which honors the top 50 serial academic life science entrepreneurs.
Thank you, Hansjörg, for this extraordinary gift. This is more than a gift to Harvard – this is a gift to science. It is a gift to engineering; it is a gift to patients; it is a gift to the environment. It is also a gift to Boston and the city’s biomedical ecosystem, as this Institute has helped us to attract some of the very best people from around the world. And it is a gift to all academic institutions because it has helped us to understand how we can organize these institutions to make them even more effective, to contribute even more to society, by helping us understand how we can work across traditional boundaries, whether or not it is boundaries that exist within departments, within schools, within universities, across hospitals, or across industry. Lawrence S. Bacow, in remarks delivered at the April 26 celebration of Hansjörg Wyss 29th President of Harvard University Wyss Impact Report
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WYSS INSTITUTE
FY22 FINANCIAL RECAP FY22 Wyss Institute Income In FY22, the Wyss Institute secured revenue of $51,875,000 in spite of a global pandemic and industry-wide shutdowns. Throughout the turmoil, the Institute sustained revenue with a tactical pivot towards governmental support in its response to COVID-19. Over the next three years, we will re-balance our revenue streams and expand our philanthropic and industry support in order to reduce reliance on federal funding and return to prepandemic diversification.
FY22 Wyss Institute Operating Expenses In FY22, the Wyss Institute’s operating expenses remained flat by efficiently investing in scientific innovation and the resources to drive technology translation. Among our personnel, we are proud to support Graduate Students, Postdoctoral Fellows, and Clinical Research Fellows in their pursuit of successful careers in translational science.
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WYSS INSTITUTE
LEADERSHIP
Executive Team Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., Founding Director, Wyss Institute; Judah Folkman Professor of Vascular Biology, Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital; Hansjörg Wyss Professor of Bioinspired Engineering, Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Angelika Fretzen, Ph.D., M.B.A., Technology Translation Director and Chief Operating Officer, Wyss Institute
Scientific Advisory Board Judith L. Swain, M.D., Chair, Chief Medical Officer, Physiowave, LLC, and Visiting Professor, National University of Singapore Jef D. Boeke, Ph.D., D.Sc., Professor of Biochemistry and Pharmacology and Founding Director, Institute for Systems Genetics, NYU Langone Health Jennifer Elisseeff, Ph.D., Morton Goldberg Professor and Director of the Translational Tissue Engineering Center, Johns Hopkins Department of Biomedical Engineering and the Wilmer Eye Institute Peter Fratzl, Ph.D., Director, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces Robert J. Full, Ph.D., Howard Hughes Medical Institute Professor of Integrative Biology, University of California at Berkeley Richard M. Murray, Ph.D., Thomas E. and Doris Everhart Professor of Control & Dynamical Systems and Bioengineering, Caltech
Board of Directors Alan M. Garber, M.D., Ph.D., Chair, Provost, Harvard University Hansjörg Wyss, M.B.A., Co-Chair, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist Robert (Bob) P. Bland, M.B.A., Retired Business Executive George Q. Daley, M.D., Ph.D., Dean, Harvard Medical School Frank J. Doyle, Ph.D., John A. Paulson Dean, Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences Sandra L. Fenwick, M.P.H., Former Chief Executive Officer, Boston Children’s Hospital Norbert P. Haas, Ph.D., Director Emeritus, Center for Musculoskeletal Surgery, Charité University of Medicine Berlin Kenneth R. Lutchen, Ph.D., Provost ad interim and Chief Academic Officer, Boston University Molly McUsic, J.D., President, The Wyss Foundation Philip Reilly, M.D., J.D., Venture Partner, Third Rock Ventures, Biotech Entrepreneur
Albert van den Berg, Ph.D., Professor, University of Twente
John H. Shaw, Ph.D., Vice Provost for Research, Harvard University
Viola Vogel, Ph.D., Professor of Applied Mechanobiology, ETH Zurich
Meredith Weenick, M.B.A., Executive Vice President, Harvard University
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