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Robotic suit promotes normal walking in stroke patients
Wyss Institute’s soft, wearable, robotic suit promotes normal walking in stroke patients.
Brain-training app creators join in the genetics game
The Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School’s Personal Genome Project are collaborating with Lumos Labs, the makers of Lumosity, to investigate the relationship between genetics and memory, attention, and reaction speed.
Soft robot helps the heart beat
Researchers have developed a customizable soft robot that fits around a heart and helps it beat, potentially opening new treatment options for people suffering from heart failure.
Root, the code-teaching robot
A Wyss Institute robot named Root is designed to teach computer coding to anyone from a 5-year-old to an intermediate programmer.
Final OK for Science and Engineering Complex in Allston
Harvard University has received unanimous final approval from the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) for its planned Science and Engineering Complex (SEC) in Allston.
The tiny flying submarine
Harvard lab develops first insect-size robots capable of flight and swimming.
How new biosensors turn E. coli into something valuable
New biosensors developed by Wyss Institute core faculty member George Church enable complex genetic reprogramming of common bacteria like E. coli and could be leveraged for sustainable biomanufacturing, using the metabolic processes of bacterial cells to generate valuable chemicals and fuels.
And now, the hopping robot
Harvard-designed robot transitions from soft to hard, reducing the stress where the rigid electronic components join the body.
A new grasp on robotic glove
Having achieved promising results in proof-of-concept prototyping and experimental testing, a soft robotic glove under development by Conor Walsh and a team of engineers at the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering could someday help people who have lost hand motor control regain some of their daily independence.
Changing the way genomes work
In the Wyss Institute’s inaugural podcast "Disruptive," host Terrence McNally spoke with Pamela Silver and George Church about today’s breakthroughs in technology and modifications to an organism's genome that can be conducted more cheaply, efficiently, and effectively than ever before.
‘It was sort of a eureka moment’
Harvard engineers demonstrated a novel engineering process by creating a self-assembling robot that folds up from a flat sheet of composite material and then walks away. The Gazette spoke with engineering Professor Robert Wood about the project.
Robot folds up, walks away
A team of engineers used little more than paper and a classic children’s toy to build a robot that assembles itself into a complex shape in four minutes, and crawls away without human intervention.
Wyss Institute’s organs-on-chips develops into new company
The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University announced on Monday that its human organs-on-chips technology will be commercialized by a newly formed private company to accelerate the development of pharmaceutical, chemical, cosmetic, and personalized medicine products.
Now available on the Web? Smells
Harvard Professor David Edwards and a former engineering student, Rachel Field, added another sense to digital communications, sending a smell across the Atlantic, where a scent generator called an oPhone reproduced it.
Promising solution to plastic pollution
Harvard's Wyss Institute researchers find that a fully degradable bioplastic isolated from shrimp shells could provide a solution to planet-clogging plastics.
Quality control
A Harvard research team led by Kevin Kit Parker, a Harvard Stem Cell Institute principal faculty member, has identified a set of 64 crucial parameters by which to judge stem cell-derived cardiac myocytes, making it possible for scientists and pharmaceutical companies to quantitatively judge and compare the value of stem cells.
Technically, you are what you wear
The Google Glass and Warrior Web projects highlight the annual Radcliffe Science Symposium, which focused on the integration of technology with “smart clothes.”
Cancer vaccine begins Phase I clinical trials
A cross-disciplinary team of Harvard scientists, engineers, and clinicians announced Sept. 6 that they have begun a Phase I clinical trial of an implantable vaccine to treat melanoma, the most lethal form of skin cancer.
New coating creates ‘superglass’
A new transparent, bioinspired coating makes ordinary glass tough, self-cleaning, and incredibly slippery. It could be used to create durable, scratch-resistant lenses for eyeglasses, self-cleaning windows, improved solar panels, and new medical diagnostic devices.
Robotic insects make first controlled flight
The demonstration of the first controlled flight of an insect-sized robot is the culmination of more than a decade’s work, led by researchers at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard.
Clues in the cucumber’s climb
Harvard researchers, captivated by a strange coiling behavior in the grasping tendrils of the cucumber plant, have characterized a new type of spring that is soft when pulled gently and stiff when pulled strongly.
Synthetic future
In the synthetic biology lab of Professor Pamela Silver, researchers are looking for ways to make biological engineering faster, cheaper, and more predictable.
Clot-busting technology goes straight to work
Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard have developed a novel biomimetic strategy that delivers life-saving nanotherapeutics directly to obstructed blood vessels, dissolving blood clots before they cause serious damage or even death.
Now, ice won’t stick
A Harvard team of researchers has invented a way to keep any metal surface free of ice and frost. The treated surfaces quickly shed even tiny, incipient condensation droplets or frost, simply through gravity.
Using nature to inspire robotics
The annual symposium of the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, held at Harvard Medical School, prompted a spirited discussion on robotics and medicine, with nature as a model.
Using DNA as bricks and mortar
Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have figured out how to use short lengths of DNA as physical, rather than genetic, building blocks, creating letters and other shapes from the molecules in a proof of design that could one day lead to the creation of structures that, among other things, deliver drugs to disease sites.
Nature by Design – Innovation at Harvard
What can termites teach us about building complex computer systems?
Sending DNA robot to do the job
Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University have developed a robotic device made from DNA that could potentially seek out specific cell targets within a complex mixture of cell types and deliver important molecular instructions, such as telling cancer cells to self-destruct or programming immune responses.
As strong as an insect’s shell
Wyss Institute scientists have created a material that mimics the hard outer skin of bugs. The result is low-cost and easily manufactured, and tough. It eventually might provide a more environmentally friendly alternative to plastic.
Wyss Institute hosts competition
The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering hosted an inaugural biomolecular design competition on Nov. 5.
Early excellence, rewarded
Two young Harvard scientists will each receive $2.54 million or more in National Institutes of Health grants that will support research and overhead costs through a new program intended to accelerate the entry of outstanding junior investigators into independent researcher positions.
Surgical precision
In ES 227, "Medical Device Design," SEAS students are given the opportunity to solve practical problems in a hospital setting, trying out the tools, learning about their use in real-world situations, and, in some cases, even sitting in on surgical procedures.
New approach to traumatic brain injuries
Bioengineers at Harvard have, for the first time, explained how the blast of an exploding bomb can translate into subtly disastrous injuries in the nerve cells and blood vessels of the brain.
Pollock: Artist and physicist?
A quantitative analysis of the streams, drips, and coils of artist Jackson Pollock by a Harvard mathematician and others reveals that he had to be slow and deliberate to exploit fluid dynamics as he did.
Harvard at 375
The University gets ready to celebrate its classic values, as well as its recent innovative momentum in the sciences, public service, diversity, internationalism, and the arts. Oct. 14 will be the launch of the official 375th anniversary.
Looking ahead
He’s an economist, a researcher, and a physician, and he’s about to become provost. On the day (April 15) that President Drew Faust announced that he would be Harvard’s next provost, Alan M. Garber ’76 sat down with the Gazette to talk about his career, his new role, and facilitating connections across traditional academic boundaries as the University evolves for the 21st century.
I Am My Filter and more
Students presented projects Wednesday (April 13) from the Idea Translation Lab, which pushes students to turn ideas into reality and sets them up to take the next steps in project development.
How the lily blooms
SEAS research has revealed that differential growth and ruffling at the edges of each petal — not in the midrib, as commonly suggested — provide the force behind the lily's bloom. The work contradicts earlier theories regarding the growth within the flower bud.
Chips, efficient and fast
Professor Gu-Yeon Wei explores energy-efficient computing devices that are fast but draw minimal power.
Guiding discoveries to the public
Harvard’s Office of Technology Development tries to ensure that the public sees the benefits of Harvard’s research by licensing new technology to companies.
Innovate, create
From oddities like breathable chocolate to history-making devices with profound societal effects, like the heart pacemaker, Harvard’s combination of questing minds, restless spirits, and intellectual seekers fosters creativity and innovation that’s finding an outlet in new inventions and companies.
Slimy secrets
Harvard researchers have discovered that Bacillus subtilis biofilm colonies exhibit an unmatched ability to repel a wide range of liquids — and even vapors. The finding holds promise for developing better ways to eliminate harmful biofilms that can clog pipes, contaminate food production and water supply systems, and lead to infections.
Hyman to step down as provost
Provost Steven E. Hyman, who spurred an expansion of interdisciplinary research at Harvard and has overseen the revitalization of the University’s libraries and many of its museums and cultural institutions, plans to leave his post after nearly a decade.
New facilities for Wyss Institute
Harvard’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering officially opens new, expansive facilities in Boston and Cambridge to host its fast-growing enterprise.
Termites as architects
The air exchange system inside termite mounds provides a natural example of how to harness intermittent winds.
Cracking flight’s mysteries
Harvard engineers have created a millionth-scale automobile differential to guide tiny aerial robots.
SEAS student awarded fellowship
Emily Gardel, a Ph.D. candidate in applied physics at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has been awarded a three-year Department of Energy Office of Science Graduate Fellowship.
Shape-shifting sheets automatically fold into multiple shapes
“More than meets the eye” may soon become more than just for the Transformer line of popular robotic toys. Researchers at Harvard and MIT have reshaped ...
Living, breathing human lung-on-a-chip
Researchers at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have created a device that mimics a living, breathing human lung on a microchip. The device, about the size of a rubber eraser, acts much like a lung in a human body and is made using human lung and blood vessel cells.
Replicating nature’s design principles
In nature, cells and tissues assemble and organize themselves within a matrix of protein fibers that ultimately determines their structure and function, such as the elasticity of skin and the contractility of heart tissue. These natural design principles have now been successfully replicated in the lab by bioengineers at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering and School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.
