Disruptive

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University use Nature's design principles to develop bioinspired materials and devices that will transform medicine and create a more sustainable world. In this podcast series, Terrence McNally speaks directly with Institute researchers, exploring what motivates them and how they envision our future as it might be impacted by their disruptive technologies.

  1. 09/17/2019

    Disruptive: 3D Bioprinting

    There are roughly 120,000 people in the United States on waiting lists for live-saving organ transplants, with only about 30,000 transplants happening every year. To address this great challenge of organ shortages, a team at the Wyss Institute led by Core Faculty member Jennifer Lewis, Sc.D., is developing a method for 3D bioprinting organ tissues with requisite vasculature for eventual organ transplant. In this episode of Disruptive, Jennifer Lewis is joined by Wyss Institute Research Associate Mark Skylar-Scott, Ph.D., and former Wyss Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Kimberly Homan, Ph.D., to talk about the current status of their work, challenges they face, and the next steps in their path to 3D bioprint human organs.

  2. 08/21/2019

    Disruptive: Accelerating Diagnostics

    In this episode of Disruptive, David Walt, Wyss Core Faculty member, discusses his lessons learned from founding successful biotech companies and how he incorporates translation-minded thinking early on into his current diagnostic research in his labs at the Wyss Institute and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Walt and collaborators are inventing new diagnostic tools to allow clinicians to better understand and treat some of the most pressing healthcare problems.

  3. 10/12/2018

    Disruptive: Soft Robotics for Deep Sea Exploration

    The deep ocean is the least explored environment on Earth, and scientists estimate that many thousands of species are yet to be encountered. Marine researchers depend on tools primarily developed for the military or the oil and gas industry to study and capture undersea organisms. Many of them are extremely fragile, some thousands of years old, and too often they are damaged or destroyed by equipment that is hard, bulky, and hard to control. In this episode of Disruptive, Rob Wood, a roboticist and Core Faculty member at the Wyss Institute, and David Gruber, a marine biologist at Baruch College, discuss a chance encounter that led them to develop soft robotic tools that enable a new, non-invasive approach to interacting with deep ocean life.

  4. 12/20/2017

    Disruptive: Art Advances Science

    In this episode of Disruptive, Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber and Staff Scientist Charles Reilly discuss their process creating The Beginning, a short film inspired by Star Wars, to better communicate science to the public…and how they made a scientific discovery along the way. To make The Beginning, film industry visual effects and animation tools were used to merge scientific data from different disciplines, which enabled their team to create more accurate depictions and predictions of the natural world than what could otherwise be achieved. The team is now exploring how to use this approach to rational drug design and understanding the molecular mechanisms of disease.

  5. 10/24/2017

    Disruptive: Cancer Vaccine and Immuno-Materials

    Immunotherapy – treatment that uses the body’s own immune system to help fight disease – has groundbreaking and life-saving implications. In an effort to make immunotherapy more effective, Wyss Institute researches are developing new immuno-materials, which help modulate immune cells to treat or diagnose disease. In this episode of Disruptive, Dave Mooney, Wyss Core Faculty member; Kai Wucherpfennig, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Cancer and Immunology and Virology department chair; and Aileen Li, Wyss Institute and Mooney Lab postdoctoral fellow, discuss their collaboration developing an injectable cancer vaccine. Guests also discuss other immuno-material applications, which could treat infections, diabetes, and addiction.

  6. 03/24/2017

    Disruptive: Sports Genomics

    With 100 trillion cells in the human body, bacteria outnumber our own human cells 2 to 1. These bacteria make up one’s microbiome, and particularly bacteria in our guts affect all our key organ functions. They play a role in our health, development and wellness, including endurance, recovery and mental aptitude. In this episode of Disruptive, Wyss Core Faculty member George Church and Wyss Postdoctoral Fellow Jonathan Scheiman discuss collecting and sequencing gut bacteria of elite athletes to produce customized probiotics - and the potential that these probiotics could give recipients access to some of the biological advantages that make those athletes elite.

  7. 09/30/2016

    Disruptive: Mechanotherapeutics – From Drugs to Wearables

    Mechanobiology reveals insights into how the body’s physical forces and mechanics impact development, physiological health, and prevention and treatment of disease. The emerging field of Mechanotherapeutics leverages these insights towards the development of new types of pharmaceuticals, drug delivery systems, engineered tissues, and wearable therapeutic devices that leverage physical forces or target mechanical signaling pathways as a core part of their mechanism of action. In this episode of Disruptive, Wyss Core Faculty members Don Ingber, Dave Mooney, and Conor Walsh discuss the latest directions in Mechanotherapeutics. Along with leading researchers from around the globe, representing diverse disciplines, Ingber, Mooney, and Walsh presented at the Wyss Institute's 7th annual symposium. Speakers provided numerous examples of how mechanics are being harnessed in ways that can transform the future of medicine – from drugs to wearables.

    1 hr

  8. 09/27/2016

    Disruptive: Fluorescent In Situ Sequencing

    Developed at the Wyss, FISSEQ (fluorescent in situ sequencing) is a spatial gene sequencing technology that reads and visualizes the three-dimensional coordinates of RNA and mRNAs – the working copies of genes – within whole cells and tissues. FISSEQ affords insights into biological complexity that until now have not been possible. In this episode of Disruptive, Wyss Core Faculty member George Church, Wyss Senior Staff Scientist Rich Terry, and former Wyss Entrepreneur-in-Residence Shawn Marcell discuss FISSEQ's development and translational potential, which could be used to advance the development of diagnostics and discovery of new drug targets.

    47 min
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Ratings & Reviews

4.6
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

Researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University use Nature's design principles to develop bioinspired materials and devices that will transform medicine and create a more sustainable world. In this podcast series, Terrence McNally speaks directly with Institute researchers, exploring what motivates them and how they envision our future as it might be impacted by their disruptive technologies.

Information

  • Creator
    Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
  • Years Active
    2015 - 2019
  • Episodes
    17
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
  • Show Website
    Disruptive

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