Wyss InstitutePharmacology – Wyss Institute

Alzheimer’s drug may someday help save lives by inducing a state of “suspended animation”

Jessica Leff — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 15:25:07 +0000

By Lindsay Brownell (BOSTON) — Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University report that they were able to successfully put tadpoles of Xenopus laevis frogs into a hibernation-like torpor state using donepezil (DNP), a drug approved by the FDA to treat Alzheimer’s. The team had previously used another drug, SNC80, to achieve similar results in…

Source

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.

Source

Changing the calculus of cancer treatment

Jessica Leff — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 22:04:52 +0000

This year’s American Cancer Society’s cancer statistics report revealed that despite falling rates of some cancers over the last few decades, the incidence of breast, prostate, oral cavity, melanoma, and kidney cancers has been rising in recent years. Most concerningly, colorectal cancer has jumped to become the leading cause of cancer deaths in adults under 50. Despite the strides made by new…

Source

The Wyss Brain Targeting Program is expanding its “neural network”

Mariel Schoen — Wed, 24 Jan 2024 22:02:14 +0000

The Wyss Brain Targeting Program is discovering and developing new brain transport shuttles that are safe and effective, along with specially engineered mice in which drugs fused to the brain shuttles can be tested. These brain shuttles and mouse models are now available for non-exclusive licensing. The Wyss Brain Targeting Program was created as an R&D hub to promote collaboration among…

Source

Enhancing Lactation to Improve Infant and Maternal Health

Jessica Leff — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 14:29:48 +0000

Lactation Biologics is developing a long-lasting, self-injectable treatment to help nursing mothers feed their babies naturally, helping them get the best nutrition possible in the face of climate disasters and supply chain disruptions. Credit: Wyss Institute at Harvard University…

Source

Lactation Biologics: Increasing Milk Production for Healthier Babies

Jessica Leff — Mon, 22 Jan 2024 14:29:28 +0000

Infants are born to breastfeed, but 50% of lactating people struggle to make enough milk for them. Despite this “silent epidemic,” there are no FDA-approved drugs to increase milk supply. While baby formula is available as an alternative, the medical community unquestionably agrees that breastmilk provides better nutrition than formula and should be the primary source of food for newborns.

Source

Using AI, researchers identify a new class of antibiotic candidates

Jessica Leff — Wed, 20 Dec 2023 15:55:21 +0000

By Anne Trafton, MIT News Office Using a type of artificial intelligence known as deep learning, researchers at the Wyss Institute and MIT have discovered a class of compounds that can kill a drug-resistant bacterium that causes more than 10,000 deaths in the United States every year. In a study appearing today in Nature, the researchers showed that these compounds could kill methicillin…

Source

A malaria drug treatment could save babies’ lives

Jessica Leff — Tue, 19 Dec 2023 17:55:22 +0000

By Lindsay Brownell (BOSTON) — Wars, drought, displacement, and instability are causing a dramatic increase in the number of pregnant and breastfeeding women around the world who suffer from malnutrition. Without access to sufficient nutrients in the womb, babies born to these women are more likely to die due to complications like pre-term birth, low birth weight…

Source

Highly Cited Researchers 2023 honors 13 Wyss faculty members

Jessica Leff — Wed, 15 Nov 2023 14:00:32 +0000

By Lindsay Brownell (BOSTON) — Today, Clarivate Analytics announced its annual Highly Cited Researchers 2023 list, which honors the top 1% of researchers around the world whose papers have been cited the most in the previous 10 years. Clarivate uses both quantitative and qualitative analyses to identify individuals who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their chosen field(s)…

Source

FeCILL: Reimagining How We Treat the Sickest Patients

Jessica Leff — Fri, 17 Mar 2023 17:27:22 +0000

Opportunistic fungal infections usually only affect patients whose immune systems are compromised, but when they do, they are often deadly – the mortality rate for these infections can be as high as 25%. Existing antifungal treatments have high levels of toxicity, and can harm the patient more than they help. Researchers at the Wyss Institute and Massachusetts General Hospital are developing a new…

Source