Wyss InstituteChemical Engineering – Wyss Institute

Ropirio: Novel Treatments Targeting the Lymphatic System

Mariel Schoen — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 13:56:37 +0000

The human lymphatic system is vast and critical to our health, including the proper functioning of our immune system. Over the last decade, research into the lymph system has revealed its dysfunction in a wide variety of diseases, but development of drugs to directly target the lymph system has lagged, in part because there are few reliable preclinical models of lymph vessels on which to test drug…

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Ropirio launches from Wyss Institute to develop first-in-class lymphatic medicines

Mariel Schoen — Wed, 11 Sep 2024 13:55:12 +0000

By Lindsay Brownell (BOSTON) — The Wyss Institute at Harvard University announced today that Ropirio Therapeutics, Inc. (Ropirio) has secured a worldwide, exclusive license from Harvard’s Office of Technology Development (OTD) and Boston University (BU)’s Technology Development office for novel molecules that activate the lymphatic system – a first in the pharma industry. “There has been a…

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Starting a fluorescent biosensor revolution

Mariel Schoen — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 09:00:00 +0000

By Benjamin Boettner (BOSTON) — Biosensors – devices that use biological molecules to detect the presence of a target substance – have enormous potential for detecting disease biomarkers, molecules-in-action in diverse biological processes, or toxins and other harmful substances in the environment. One of the more common types, fluorescent biosensors, consists of a target-binding biomolecule…

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A better way to make RNA drugs

Jessica Leff — Fri, 12 Jul 2024 09:00:40 +0000

By Lindsay Brownell (BOSTON) — While the COVID-19 vaccines introduced many people to RNA-based medicines, oligonucleotides have already been on the market for years to treat diseases like Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and amyloidosis. RNA therapies offer many advantages over traditional small molecule drugs, including their ability to address almost any genetic component within cells and to guide…

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AminoX: Making Better Protein Drugs, Quicker and Cheaper

Jessica Leff — Wed, 10 Jul 2024 13:56:00 +0000

A synthetic biology and advanced chemistry platform that efficiently incorporates non-standard amino acids by hacking the ubiquitous protein synthesis process. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University…

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AminoX: Making Better Protein Drugs, Quicker and Cheaper

Jessica Leff — Wed, 01 May 2024 15:40:43 +0000

Protein drugs often offer the most effective way to treat a variety of medical illnesses and conditions. However, many proteins in their naturally occurring forms make poor drugs – they can cause toxicities that force patients to discontinue treatment, and they often have such short half-lives that patients would need to receive a constant infusion of them to see a therapeutic effect. Recently…

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Catalytic Materials: Cheaper, Better Air Purification for a Healthier World

Mariel Schoen — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 20:22:04 +0000

Catalytic converters are the most widely used kind of air pollution control device, and are installed in many smokestacks and car tailpipes. However, standard catalytic converters are very expensive because the catalysts used in them are precious metals like platinum, meaning they are not always replaced as often as they should be, and are the target of theft in lower-income areas.

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eRapid: Multiplexed Electrochemical Sensors for Fast, Accurate, Portable Diagnostics

admin — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 19:58:09 +0000

Handheld electrochemical sensors have revolutionized at-home medical testing for diabetics, but they have not yet been successfully applied to diagnosing other conditions. These sensors are based on the activity of an enzyme, and there are only a limited number of enzymes that can be used to detect biomarkers of human disease. An alternative, much more broadly applicable sensing strategy based on…

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DNA Nanostructures for Drug Delivery

admin — Mon, 29 Apr 2024 05:58:48 +0000

Researchers at the Wyss Institute have developed two methods for building arbitrarily shaped nanostructures using DNA, with a focus on translating the technology towards nanofabrication and drug delivery applications. One proprietary nanofabrication technique, called “DNA-brick self-assembly,” uses short, synthetic strands of DNA that work like interlocking Lego® bricks. It capitalizes on the…

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Wyss Institute’s AminoX project receives funding from Northpond Labs to accelerate innovation in protein-based therapeutics

Mariel Schoen — Mon, 08 Apr 2024 14:55:29 +0000

By Lindsay Brownell (BOSTON) — The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University and Northpond Ventures announced today that the VC firm’s affiliate Northpond Labs has signed an agreement to support the development of the AminoX project toward commercialization. This is the fourth Wyss project selected by Northpond Labs for additional funding.

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