IMPACT REPORT 2024
CONFRONTING GRAND CHALLENGES
A Letter from the Founding Director
Each of the 15 years since the Wyss was founded has been exciting and rewarding in its own way. 2024 was no different as it ushered in a new era for our Institute.
Every complex problem takes a multitude of solutions and myriad approaches to bring about successful change. What Hansjörg Wyss and our entire Institute have really enabled is the ingenuity to take on grand challenges, often in partnership with our robust community of partners and collaborating institutions. From the beginning, our goal was not just to create a research institute but to establish a translation institute, because we know that groundbreaking discoveries will only change the world if they make it out of the lab. Our vision extends beyond developing disruptive ideas; we are committed to creating the pathways necessary to turn these ideas into impactful products.
At the Wyss, we approach problems differently. We bring together an extraordinary, diverse team from entirely different disciplines, which leads to out-of-the-box thinking and disruptive innovation, ultimately yielding world-changing solutions. Our strength lies in integrating contributions from scientists with both academic and industry experience, coupled with an agile business development team and external partners, all of whom are passionate about supporting our projects from concept to completion. Together, we have established a track record of success and are now poised to take on bolder, seemingly impossible challenges, and translate solutions into reality.
Last year, we collectively articulated our Wyss Community Values as an Institute and built upon the Wyss spirit of productive camaraderie and collaboration with our move to our new home at 201 Brookline, which has already enabled our community to come together to dream even bigger than we dared to before, bringing with it a renewed sense of focus and dedication to our work.
With our most recent generous gift from Hansjörg Wyss to provide core operational funding for the next 10 years, this year we embarked on drafting our Strategic Plan, which mapped out our vision for the path we will take forward toward ensuring the sustained future of the Wyss. In the Strategic Plan, we further strengthened our efforts around the patient-focused challenges that we are so passionate about and articulated our commitment to solving these Grand Challenges in the areas of Cancer Solutions, Infectious Disease Control, Women’s Health Innovation, Brain Health, Healthy Aging, and Sustainable Futures.
Together, we are committed to fervently pursue our Grand Challenges, whether identified internally or through collaboration with partners such as government agencies, foundations, private companies, investors, and potential donors, which urgently require innovative out-of-the-box solutions. Our Grand Challenges align with our internal research strengths and the interests of our dedicated community, as well as with external funding opportunities from government, industry, and philanthropic sources.
We are tremendously proud of the community we’ve cultivated and are sincerely grateful to Mr. Wyss, along with our entire ecosystem of dynamic partners, collaborators, and supporters, who have believed and trusted in us every step of the way. I speak for everyone at the Wyss when I say thank you for the constant inspiration, engagement, and support, which has empowered us to drive real, impactful change.
Our commitment is not to pursue breakthrough science for mere discovery’s sake or technological advancement, but to focus on those “impossible” problems that hold the greatest positive potential for human and planetary impact. Thank you for being part of our journey, and for recognizing and celebrating what we have accomplished. Together, we can leverage our collective strengths to create a new era of science and engineering that serves and uplifts humanity.
We are proud to have each of you by our side, and we deeply appreciate your support as we take the next steps on this exciting journey. We eagerly look forward to the groundbreaking ideas, partnerships, and shared successes that await us in the future.
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
Discoveries can’t change the world if they don’t leave the lab.
DNA-powered signal amplification technology.
Staining of neuronal cells within in the interior and multiciliated cells on the surface of a neurobot: a novel biological robot constructed using Xenopus laevis embryonic cells.
A mature cystic fibrosis airway epithelium with cilia (green) on a chip.
THIS YEAR
Lung-on-a-Chip
IBD in the Colon Chip exposed to pregnancy-associated hormones.
Immunofluorescent lymph node staining.
Co-SWIFT-created vessels embedded with living smooth muscle and endothelial cells replicate the structure of human blood vessels in vitro.
Cancer Solutions
CAN WE CREATE NEW HOPE FOR PATIENTS WITH INCURABLE CANCERS?
In 2024, more than two million new cancer cases will be diagnosed in the U.S., and more than half a million people will die from the disease. Although new targeted and immune therapies have revolutionized the treatment of multiple types of cancer, others remain almost as deadly as they were 50 years ago.
The Wyss Institute is developing groundbreaking new treatments and drug delivery approaches to boost the body’s own abilities to fight cancer, enable drugs to access hard-to-reach tissues, and dramatically improve existing therapies.
We are making new inroads into underserved cancers with NodeTX Cancer patients sometimes develop lymph node-like clumps of immune cells called Tertiary Lymphoid Organs (TLOs) close to tumors that can improve their responses to cancer treatment. We’re harnessing this phenomenon by engineering injectable TLOs outside the body that can be placed at tumor sites, even after tumor removal, to create therapy-boosting immune hubs. By combining TLO therapy with existing immunotherapies, the team is targeting underserved cancers such as ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, and melanoma.
Reimagining a world without breast cancer
Denise Skok, a three-time cancer survivor, twice breast cancer and once skin cancer, shares the medical and emotional challenges she had to overcome to be cancer-free.
With support from ARPA-H, we are turbocharging a novel immunotherapy platform
A Wyss team led by Natalie Artzi and Don Ingber, along with William Shih and Ken Carlson, was awarded the first contract by the newly-formed Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H). The award, which could be up to $27M depending on the project’s progress, will be used to develop the Institute’s doublestranded RNA (dsRNA) technology into a broadly applicable immunotherapy platform to enable its effective delivery.
dsRNA is a newly discovered type of RNA molecule that safely and naturally stimulates the innate immune system, kick-starting an immune cascade that outlasts the presence of the RNA drug itself. Importantly, this therapy synergizes with other immunotherapies and could be used to treat patients with various types of cancer.
Our blossoming alliance with Northpond Ventures
Now in its fifth year, our strategic research alliance with Northpond Labs, Northpond Ventures’ R&D-focused affiliate, is going strong. This collaboration has been a new model for generating value through investment in earlystage but milestone-focused translational research in academic environments. This year, Northpond Labs selected a fourth Wyss project team, AminoX, to receive funding and guidance as it works to develop and commercialize a potentially lifesaving technology.
Our alliance with the Wyss Institute has allowed us to build partnerships with founders who we have a high degree of confidence in, because we’ve been with them every step of the way throughout their spin-out journey.
Mike Rubin Founder & CEO Northpond Ventures
Watch how we’re reimagining the world with Northpond
More potent cancer vaccines with DoriVac
The DoriVac project, led by William Shih and Yang (Claire) Zeng, is gearing up to bring its new DNA nanoparticlebased vaccine and multi-drug delivery technology to patients. Its rationally designed DNA nanostructures can co-present adjuvant and tumor antigen molecules to patients’ immune cells so that they can precisely register with target molecules in patients’ immune cells. These capabilities enabled enhanced cancer-
fighting immune responses in mouse tumor models for multiple cancers and have much broader potential for precision drug delivery. The team is currently formulating their first vaccine for use in human patients.
DoriVac was named a new Institute Project this past year, which will facilitate the team’s commercialization of its platform. In spring 2024, the team also graduated from the MassBioDrive program as one of five startup teams.
We are creating more effective protein drugs with AminoX
To develop more effective protein drugs, the AminoX team – Helena de Puig, Erkin Kuru, and Michaël Moret from the labs of George Church and Jim Collins – is developing a platform for the rapid and cost-effective creation and integration of non-standard amino acids into proteins. This technique enables the production of protein drugs with enhanced or entirely new functions, unlocking unlimited treatment innovations. This year, the team was selected by Northpond Labs to accelerate the commercialization of their platform, with an initial focus on enhanced immune checkpoint inhibitor drugs.
Florey Biosciences’ liaison with venture philanthropy
The gut microbiome talks eloquently to cells in our bodies, also modulating immune responses; disruption of this bacterial community by antibiotics compromises this vital conversation. This puts cancer patients at special risk, as they rely on their antitumor immunity to respond to treatments optimally.
The Wyss startup Florey Biosciences designed a solution to mitigate this problem using engineered precision probiotics that protect the gut microbiome from the collateral damage of antibiotics. This novel concept attracted the early support of the Seerave Foundation’s venture philanthropy arm focused on advancing cancer care, and led Seerave to join Andrés Cubillos, Raphaël Gayet, and James Collins as a cofounder and close partner in Florey’s mission.
As a family foundation, we want to see evidence-based innovations improve the lives of cancer patients and benefit society at large. All over the globe, medical breakthroughs are in the making, but not all receive the resources they may need to succeed in translating from bench to bedside. There are still gaps in more traditional models of governmental and venture support available to emerging startup companies and thus opportunity for philanthropic organizations to proactively step in. We view our role as bridging these gaps to help science entrepreneurs push innovations forward – Florey’s ambitions, technology, and team fully resonate with our philanthropic purpose and core mission.
Manuel Frankhauser CEO, Seerave Foundation
Infectious Disease Control
HOW CAN WE DIAGNOSE AND TREAT INFECTIOUS DISEASE MORE EFFECTIVELY AND AFFORDABLY AROUND THE WORLD?
Before any disease can be successfully treated, it must be accurately diagnosed. Wyss researchers are creating new diagnostics for infectious diseases where tests do not currently exist or do not provide sufficient insights, as well as developing much-needed vaccines and therapies for those diseases using newly discovered
We are creating a single therapy to treat many pathogens
Awarded a new contract by the DARPA-SHIELD program, a team led by Samir Mitragotri and Michael Super is developing an effective broad-spectrum “life therapy” that clears bloodborne fungi and bacteria from wounded people who do not have immediate access to healthcare facilities. The therapy attaches genetically engineered FcMBL molecules, which can capture more than 130 different pathogens, to “cellular backpack” nanoparticles loaded with cytokine molecules. Inside the body, the fortified backpacks turn macrophages into efficient pathogen-clearing machines that remain active over multiple days.
drugs, biomaterial solutions, and engineered proteins. Key to the success of these endeavors is thriving initiatives like the Wyss Diagnostic Accelerator (DxA), newly formed collaborations between Wyss faculty that span disciplines, and the support of philanthropic and government organizations.
We are bringing “silent” Lyme Disease cases into the light
About 476,000 people are diagnosed with Lyme Disease each year in the U.S.– but many who contract the disease are not diagnosed until months or years after infection. The Wyss DxA supports two teams that are creating ultra-sensitive diagnostics for acute Lyme Disease. A team led by Natalie Artzi, Jim Collins, and David Walt is developing a pointof-care test to sample the Lyme pathogen’s DNA from the skin of patients and amplify it for detection. A team led by Peng Yin uses the DNA nanotechnology-based SPEAR-seq technique to detect trace amounts of the pathogen’s protein repertoire for diagnostics. Northpond is funding a third project, led by Don Ingber and Girija Goyal, that uses Organ Chips to identify potential therapeutic targets.
Reimagining infectious disease treatment
William Lautzenheiser narrowly survived a rare and devastating infection that claimed all four of his limbs. In a brilliant display of resilience and to cope with his new normal, he turned to comedy as a way of telling his story in a relatable way.
We are pioneering new diagnostics using DNA nanotechnology with Crisscross Diagnostics
Core Faculty member William Shih and his group have pioneered “crisscross polymerization” which, in the presence of a tiny molecular “seed,” enables the self-assembly of long DNA ribbons made from shorter DNA strands, or impressive DNA megastructures made from more than a thousand prefabricated DNA origami structures. Building on this concept, the Crisscross Diagnostics project, led by Staff Scientist Anastasia Ershova, is developing a platform for the rapid, ultrasensitive, and low-cost detection of infectious disease biomarkers.
We aim to save children’s lives with a more accessible malaria vaccine
In Africa, children younger than five account for about 80% of all malaria deaths. With support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Core Faculty member David Mooney’s team is developing a biomaterial formulation for the R21 vaccine, recommended by the World Health Organization to prevent malaria in children. Instead of being administered via typical prime-boost vaccination,
which requires patients to visit healthcare facilities multiple times, the biomaterial vaccine is a more durable, slow-release vaccine that could achieve effective vaccination after a single visit. This muchsimplified administration has the potential to save the lives of over 400,000 children. The team is collaborating with Wyss startup Attivare to manufacture a clinical trialready biomaterial vaccine by 2025.
The death toll that
malaria
is taking on children, and its debilitating consequences on those who live with it for years, make vaccine projects like this one so important and exciting to work on.
Wyss DxA Infectious Disease Symposium
This year’s Wyss DxA symposium focused on infectious diseases with the goals of building a local community and inspiring new collaborations. An eclectic group of speakers and audience members from the Harvard School of Public Health, multiple Boston University schools and initiatives, the Broad and Ragon Institutes, the Wyss DxA Industrial Participant Program, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, and the Wyss’ engineering community discussed challenges and solutions for pandemic preparedness, global health, antimicrobial resistance, effective diagnostics for underresourced countries, and other high-priority areas
Sarah Beth Perullo’s debilitating journey with Lyme Disease
Sarah Beth, a student at Boston’s Emmanuel College, struggled with Lyme Disease for a significant part of her life. Despite seriously debilitating symptoms and multiple setbacks, it took doctors years to provide a clear diagnosis, which prevented her from being effectively treated. The reason: diagnostic tests able to identify the disease at different stages are still not available. In a moving presentation, she told her story at the 2023 Wyss Retreat.
I am honored to have been a small part of this impressive event, talking about ‘Diagnostic Biopreparedness’ in the morning and then ‘Bringing your Eureka idea to Market’ in the afternoon.
Mark Miller Former CMO of bioMérieux, who concluded the event with an inspiring keynote.
Kwasi Adu-Berchie
Wyss’ scientific team lead, who fought a new malaria infection almost every year while he was growing up in Ghana.
WOMEN’S HEALTH
INNOVATION
The secret was out by the time most of us turned 13: women are very different than men. Yet for decades, women have been ignored by and excluded from medical research. From their time in utero, to adolescence, and through all phases of life, women don’t just develop differently, but they often manifest different responses to the same diseases and drugs as their male counterparts. Still, there is no established field of Women’s Health in medicine today. Hundreds of drugs that are on the market today were approved based on clinical trials only conducted on males, and many debilitating conditions that rob women of their quality of life are poorly understood. As a result, women spend 25% more time in “poor health” relative to men, and are diagnosed later than men for more than 700 diseases.
What would this look like in the future if we had a specialized discipline for this 52% of the population, like we have for pediatrics and geriatrics? We are working to close this gap and ensure a safe and healthy future for all women and girls around the world.
Gameto is on a mission to redefine women’s reproductive health
CAN WE CLOSE THE GENDER GAP IN HEALTHCARE OUTCOMES?
Organ Chips are improving our understanding of vital reproductive organs
Centuries of treating the male body as the “default” human subject have led to a significant lack of knowledge about female organs and a striking inability to treat diseases arising in them. We are developing human Organ Chips that replicate the functions of the cervix and vagina in vitro so that we can study these organs in the lab. With funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, we’re initially focusing on bacterial vaginosis, which afflicts nearly 30% of reproductive-aged women globally, doubles the risk of many sexually transmitted infections including HIV, and increases the risk of preterm birth in pregnant women.
ReConstruct is giving breast cancer survivors safer options
Watch how we are reimagining breast reconstruction and augmentation.
Infertility is a growing problem, with 48.5 million couples worldwide struggling to conceive children. Fertility interventions like egg freezing and IVF can help, but the hormone injections can be extremely expensive and burdensome on patients. Gameto launched from the Wyss in 2022 to help solve this problem. In their approach, patients take fewer hormones and their eggs are retrieved at an earlier stage, then matured in vitro in human ovarian organoids - reducing the time, cost, and discomfort of IVF/egg freezing. Gameto’s Co-Founder and CEO publicly participated in Gameto’s egg freezing trial to demonstrate its safety and feasibility, and the company recently closed its Series B round of funding to increase access to this treatment.
Many breast cancer survivors have breast reconstruction after mastectomies to reclaim some sense of normalcy after treatment. But all currently available options for breast reconstruction carry health risks: implants inevitably fail at some point and require surgical replacement, and tissue flaps transplanted from elsewhere in a patient’s body can also cause complications. ReConstruct is an Institute Project led by Luba Perry that aims to give survivors a safer and healthier option by growing tissue flaps made from a patient’s own cells in the lab and then directly connecting them to blood vessels in the body. The technology has been de-risked and validated in mice, and the team aims to launch a startup to improve both breast reconstruction and augmentation.
The Women’s Health Catalyst is finding new solutions
Spearheaded
by Chief
Operating Officer Angelika Fretzen and Senior Engineer
Adama Sesay, the Women’s Health Catalyst is dedicated to revolutionizing our understanding of women’s health across all disease research and technology development efforts being pursued throughout our community. Through this comprehensive exploration of sex-dependent patient responses, we will develop a deeper understanding of the differences in male and female patients in all disease areas.
We are also tackling the fundamental science behind conditions that primarily affect women. From creating medical implants for stroke prevention that are specifically adapted to the female body, to autoantibody
detection and monitoring for women’s autoimmune disorders, advancing mammography with protein biomarkers, developing nonhormonal contraceptives for all genders, and more.
We seek to develop a more thorough understanding of any disease we touch through exploration of sex differences and to invent impactful technology solutions that will be equally powerful for women as well as men. The potential for transformative change is enormous if we can all work together to move medicine in this new direction.
Learn more about our 30+ ongoing women’s health projects on our website, and get in touch with Jonelle Prill-Tate to discover how you can get involved.
We are reimagining healthcare for women
We have launched our Clinical Advisor Hive, spearheaded by Kathryn Rexrode, Chief of the Division of Women’s Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and a Visiting Scholar at the Wyss Institute. This initiative connects Wyss researchers with clinicians on the front lines of women’s health to identify pressing needs and create actionable solutions.
In this video, Dr. Rexrode discusses gender and biological sex-based discrimination in medicine, the profound effect that gender and biological sex has on healthcare, the short falls in women’s health research, and why she is hopeful that healthcare will improve for women.
Enabling all mothers to give their babies the best nutrition with Lactation Biologics
Babies are born to breastfeed, but 50% of new parents struggle to make enough milk. Despite this “silent epidemic,” there are no FDAapproved drugs to increase milk supply. Kasia Kready is tackling this problem with an engineered protein that effectively increases milk production and the weight of newborns in mice models.
This project received Validation Project funding for a second year in 2024, and Kasia aims to launch a startup to commercialize this technology.
Women are 52% of the population, and we’re interested in all of the factors that affect their health. Many of these might be the same as for men, but there are many areas where either biologic sex or the experience of gender in our society will affect their health.
Kathryn Rexrode Chief of the Division of Women’s Health Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Brain Health
WHAT IF WE COULD EFFECTIVELY TREAT NEUROLOGICAL AND MENTAL HEALTH DISORDERS?
Disorders of the brain and central nervous system can rob people of decades of life, health, and fulfillment. Despite how devastating these diseases can be, many of them do not have effective treatments, and patients are forced to settle for temporary relief of their symptoms or halted decline
of their health, rather than a cure. Researchers at the Wyss have taken on the challenge of solving this problem by finding new ways to enable drugs to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a major challenge to effective treatments, as well as better diagnostics and therapeutics.
We’re finding new ways to deliver drugs across the blood-brain barrier
Nanoparticle-based Precision Drugs
In a new Validation Project, Core Faculty members Natalie Artzi, Don Ingber, and their teams are engineering a new gateway for drugs to reach the brain. By attaching engineered drug-carrying nanoparticles to Wyss-developed brain shuttle molecules that can help them pass through the BBB, they enable precision drugs to effectively reach their targets. As a highly flexible platform, this strategy could lead to novel treatments of various brain diseases.
Brain Targeting Program: Industry Collaboration
Addressing the need to more effectively deliver drugs to the brain, the BTP is developing new tools and treatments that could improve the lives of millions of patients. Its BBBcrossing “brain shuttles” can be fused with drugs to increase their transport into the brain up to 50-fold. Now in its fifth year, the BTP, conceived by Jim Gorman, Senior Director, Translational R&D and Founding Director Don Ingber, is starting to commercialize its crucial technology through nonexclusive licenses with multiple companies developing brain-
targeted therapeutics. It has initiated a collaboration with a leading researcher to develop improved enzyme replacement therapies for two rare childhood enzyme deficiencies that affect the brain. Supported by a grant from the Department of Defense and two grants from the Massachusetts Life Science Center, the BTP is validating its brain shuttles in non-human primates, extending its reach to disorders like amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), and testing a treatment for breast cancer metastasis to the brain.
We’re aiming to diagnose Parkinson’s disease (PD) before patients show symptoms
The changes that lead to neurodegeneration in PD start unfolding in the brain long before patients show any symptoms. A research collaboration including Core Faculty member David Walt’s group and Brigham and Women’s Hospital researchers has developed a molecular assay platform that can sensitively detect α-synuclein aggregates, an early sign of PD, in patient samples. The test is an important step toward earlier interventions to more effectively slow the disease.
We are finding better treatments for Bipolar Disorder (BD) with philanthropic support
The CircaVent project was awarded a $4.5M grant from Breakthrough Discoveries for thriving with Bipolar Disorder (BD2), established by the Milken Institute and a network of scientists, clinicians, and people living with BD. With this support, the team is diving deep into the underlying biology of BD to provide better insight into the mechanisms of current on-market drugs, improve their use, as well as develop better alternatives. Jenny Tam, Director of Synthetic Biology, who leads the project, presented this work at the AtlanticLIVE Health Summit held in Boston on April 4.
Reimagining a world without Parkinson’s
Lisa and Patrick Peterson were soulmates whose loving and happy marriage was cut tragically short by PD. Lisa recounts their harrowing story from Patrick’s diagnosis to her experience as caregiver.
Read and listen to Ayush’s story on our website. Ayush Noori reimagines treatments for neurological diseases
Looking back, Ayush tells the deeply intertwined stories of caring for his grandmother who suffered from rare progressive supranuclear palsy, and embarking on a scientific career that eventually took him to the Wyss. As a vital member of the CircaVent project, he is now helping to find better treatments for Bipolar Disorder.
We’re developing new tools for neurosurgeons
Neurosurgeons routinely open the dura, the outermost tissue layer lining the brain and spinal cord, to treat patients with various diseases and complications, but closing it durably again can be challenging. A Dural Tough Adhesive, developed by Core Faculty member David Mooney and Wyss Lumineer Benjamin Freedman in collaboration with Ohio State University neurosurgeon Kyle Wu, overcomes key limitations of current repair methods and has the potential to supplant them, making brain surgery safer.
HEALTHY AGING
WHAT IF WE COULD SLOW OR REVERSE AGING?
Life expectancy has increased by 30 years since the Baby Boomers began to “boom.” But the older we get, the higher the likelihood we will develop debilitating conditions like dementia, obesity, heart disease, diabetes, strokes, and other metabolic diseases – which cost patients and their families years of health and our healthcare system billions of dollars.
What if we could change that, and allow all people to maintain their quality of life as they age? We envision a future where new treatments and interventions expand human healthspans to match our longer lifespans, so that age is truly just a number.
Rejuvenate Bio is treating age-related diseases
Rejuvenate Bio, founded in 2020 after spinning out from the Wyss Institute, is focused on bringing regenerative gene therapy to the world. Since its launch, the company has secured over $45M in funding and produced best-in-class pre-clinical data for its first human indication, arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. Rejuvenate Bio has also demonstrated long-term efficacy in treating the leading type of heart failure in dogs and has signed two major partnerships with top animal health companies.
Ichor is making old cells young again
Aging is a complex process that is poorly understood. Ichor, an Institute Project led by Staff Scientist Alex Plesa, is untangling aging by identifying networks of genes that are strongly implicated in aging processes and developing RNA-based therapies that can make old cells young again. The team is currently focusing on diseases that involve fibrosis, or scarring, including fatty liver disease, chronic kidney disease, and pulmonary fibrosis.
ProTx is regenerating the thymus
The thymus gland produces T cells that are vital players in the immune system, but its function declines with age and disease. The ProTx Validation Project, led by Dave Mooney and Kwasi Adu-Berchie, is generating T cell precursors known as “progenitor T cells” and equipping them with beneficial cytokines that promote thymic regeneration.
GeneSkin is rejuvenating skin
Despite decades of research, it remains poorly understood why the skin’s ability to heal itself declines with age. The GeneSkin Validation Project, led by George Church and Li Li, is exploring novel gene targets that regulate scar formation and fibrosissigns of incomplete healing - and aims to create new treatments that can prevent these processes and restore the skin’s rejuvenation abilities.
We’re making implantable organs with RAPID-Vasc
As we age, organs can begin to fail. The RAPID-Vasc Validation Project, led by Chris Chen and Subramanian Sundaram, is using a novel method to generate networks of blood vessels that can support the growth of engineered tissues in the lab, hopefully leading to organs or parts of organs that can be implanted to replace aging ones.
Reimagining neurodegenerative disease treatment
Mariana Garcia-Corral’s grandfather suffered from Lewy body dementia later in life. In this poignant video, she shares how he inspired her to reimagine a world with better treatments for neurodegenerative disease.
Help us translate aging reversal discoveries from the lab to markets
These projects are just a few examples of highvalue investigations at the Wyss Institute that have the potential to benefit future generations through further innovation. We seek to launch an initiative focused on healthy aging to accelerate these critical projects through additional funding.
Get in touch with Jonelle Prill-Tate to discover how you can help us address age-related processes and increase human longevity and healthspan.
SUSTAINABLE FUTURES
HOW CAN WE ENSURE OUR PLANET IS HABITABLE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS?
It’s no secret that Earth is in trouble. From climate change to pollution to biodiversity loss, human activity is causing significant damage to our planet’s natural ecosystems. We urgently need innovations that can undo the harm that has been done and help Nature regenerate itself
while also ensuring that human societies can continue to flourish for generations to come.
The Wyss is focusing its sustainability efforts on technologies that can provide solutions to problems in four major areas: materials, remediation, food, and resilience.
Our Sustainable Future
Watch how the Wyss Institute is developing sustainable materials and devices to ensure a bright future and a healthy planet for generations to inherit.
PFASense is monitoring for toxic “forever chemicals”
PFAs are now well-known for their toxicity to humans and persistence in the environment, and it seems that everywhere we look, we find them contaminating our bodies as well as the world we live in.
PFASense is a Validation Project led by Pam Silver and Simon d’Oelsnitz that aims to develop protein-based biosensors for better PFAs monitoring.
CyanoPro is producing proteins sustainably
Biotechnology now allows us to insert genes into organisms so they manufacture valuable proteins – called recombinant proteins – for use as drugs, enzymes, and food ingredients. But this process causes large amounts of carbon emissions.
The CyanoPro Validation Project, led by George Church, Elizabeth Hann, and Tzu-Chieh Tang, is developing a more sustainable biomanufacturing platform using fast-growing, photosynthetic cyanobacteria.
We’re creating safer textiles with Nixe
While removing existing PFAs is important, so is finding a more environmentally friendly version of the water-repellent coatings that PFAs are renowned for.
Nixe is a Validation Project led by Joanna Aizenberg and Caroline Dignes that is creating super water repellent fabrics inspired by the microscopically bumpy surface of lotus leaves.
Breaking is solving plastic pollution with microbes
While humans have failed to solve our plastic pollution problem, microbes have evolved an elegant solution: just eat it. But they’re not very good at it yet – studies estimate that microbes can eat just 1% of the plastic they encounter. Breaking launched from the Wyss in 2024 to genetically super-charge plastic-eating microbes so they can effectively clean up our plastic waste. In its natural state, the microbe X-32 can degrade polyolefins, polyesters, and polyamides leaving behind carbon dioxide, water, and biomass.
We are enabling portable offthe-grid water purification
Around 2.6 billion people globally do not have access to clean water. Waterborne bacteria, parasites, and other pathogens sicken many, with an estimated half a million people dying each year from diarrhea as a result of unsafe drinking water. We’re developing a portable, off-thegrid water purification and sterilization system that kills bacteria, parasites, and viruses, making contaminated water safer to drink without the need for expensive filters or bulky machinery.
Circe is decarbonizing manufacturing
Not only can microbes eat things we don’t want, they can produce things that we do want - in more sustainable ways. Circe is engineering microbes that consume greenhouse gases to produce fats and oils with the same molecular makeup as valuable ingredients like cocoa butter and jet fuel, with a lower carbon footprint.
We are forging alliances with partners who share our vision for a sustainable future
The Wyss Institute formed a strategic research alliance with Collaborative Fund aimed at driving innovation and technology development in the realm of sustainable materials. Collab’s support created the Laboratory for Sustainable Materials Research and Innovation, which supports Wyss projects with the potential to solve important environmental problems in the world within the areas of synthetic biology,
Help us advance our sustainable solutions
We are collaborators by nature, and partnerships with equally passionate people bring us closer to market-ready solutions.
Get in touch with Emily Stoler, Principal Scientist in Sustainable Materials, to learn more about our emerging technologies and collaboration opportunities.
biomanufacturing, and clean air and water. In March 2024, we co-hosted an event with Collab that featured a keynote from Nike’s former Chief Sustainability Officer, Noel Kinder, and debuted the world’s first chocolate truffles produced using microbe-derived cocoa butter from Wyss startup Circe.
A Letter from the
Chief Operating Officer
2024 has been a special year in the evolution of the Wyss. We settled into our new home at 201 Brookline; we welcomed new faculty, team members, and collaborators into our fold; and we reaffirmed our commitment to the vision and mission of the Wyss through our Strategic Plan, which will be our guidepost as we navigate the coming years.
In an Institute-wide technology assessment, we found that over 20% of the Institute’s current research projects have applications in Women’s Health, spanning areas from birth and reproduction to aging. Motivated by our researchers’ passion, our community, and with our clinical partners, we committed to closing the significant gap in the understanding of many women-specific health conditions like cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases.
Recognizing this unmet need and the critical challenge affecting 52% of the global population, the Wyss launched the Women’s Health Catalyst, which seeks to develop a more thorough understanding of diseases through exploring sex as an important biological variable, with the goal of inventing impactful technology solutions that will be equally powerful for both women and men. The Catalyst will act as a central hub for Wyss researchers focusing on women’s health and serve as a collaboration point for individuals and institutions working in this rapidly expanding field. By prioritizing women’s health, we have unlocked new translational opportunities in therapeutics, diagnostics, 3D printing, and synthetic biology.
To that end, it is imperative that the Institute’s strategic engagement, business development, and collaborative research teams continue to identify unrestricted funding opportunities to enable all stages of discovery and technology development. 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.
Our greatest strength at the Wyss is that we are uniquely positioned as a collaborative hub to link academia, hospitals, government, regulatory agencies, philanthropic organizations, and industry together with the shared goal of solving grand challenges by developing truly transformative solutions. Through the priorities described in our Strategic Plan, we will engage many stakeholders and maintain the agility and diversity of expertise needed to solve impossible problems. We charge forward into the next five years with the knowledge – and confidence – that the Institute will be stronger and even more impactful than it has been in the past.
What Hansjörg Wyss and the Institute have enabled are the capabilities and the ingenuity to take a variety of different innovative approaches to confront the complex problems we are facing as a society. This is why I am so incredibly proud of the Wyss and personally grateful to our entire community – faculty, staff, students, postdoctoral and clinical fellows, industry and philanthropic partners, like Collaborative Fund and Northpond Ventures, as well as our ecosystem of collaborators within the Boston-Cambridge ecosystem and throughout the world – for inspiring, challenging, and pushing each one of us every day to affect real change.
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. Together, we are working to create a future that we can all be proud of – a future full of promise for every person, as well as for our planet.
Angelika Fretzen, Ph.D., M.B.A.
Technology Translation Director & COO
Wyss Institute at Harvard University
OUR NEXT CHAPTER
A STRATEGIC PLAN TO SUPPORT BOLD IDEAS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Fifteen years after its inception, with an impressive track record in innovation, technology translation, and the development of wideranging partnerships that have greatly accelerated the commercialization of our technologies, the Wyss Institute finds itself in the unique position to take a fresh look into the future.
Given the success of our unique operational model, along with the impressive quality of our
faculty, staff, and extended community, the Institute is well positioned to take on the most complex problems and invent transformative solutions to address the biggest challenges that we are facing as a society. With the aspiration to tackle global challenges in healthcare and sustainability, our Strategic Plan aligns with our core strengths and capabilities, but even more importantly, will be driven by the passions of our faculty, staff, community, and strategic partners.
The Wyss Institute has developed an important standing in the Boston ecosystem and beyond and this Strategic Plan details the Institute’s approach to existing and new critical partnerships that create synergies in our capabilities and that will allow us to address complex global problems that require talent and resources beyond the capacity of the Institute, Harvard University, or any one of its partner institutions alone.
Strengthen our dream space
Mentor the next generation
Confront grand challenges
Maintain agility
Cultivate new and existing relationships
Live our values
WYSS LIFE IN OUR FENWAY HABITAT
It’s been about a year since we moved into our new habitat at 201 Brookline Ave. Our 107,000 squarefoot facility was purposebuilt in collaboration with our landlord, Alexandria Real Estate, to support the Wyss’ next chapter of successful technology translation and innovation. Multidisciplinary collaboration thrives across our eight Collaboratories, where members of different labs work alongside each other in pursuit of solutions to the world’s toughest problems. Our maker space and machine shop house all the tools necessary for researchers to prototype and iterate their technologies in preparation for their eventual commercialization.
Oversized 13-foot windows and internal glass walls allow natural light to permeate throughout the floors and create a seamless transition between dedicated outdoor spaces, write-up desks, and labs. The central stairwell serves as a walkable artery, connecting all three floors. Open workspaces surround the staircase and all three cafés, giving community members a place to connect over lunch, discuss a project, or collaborate on a jigsaw puzzle.
Across from our main entrance is a large meeting and reception space where we host most of our external-facing events. The gorgeous rooftop penthouse boasts an incredible view of the Charles River and Fenway Park.
Wyss Scientific Instrumentation @ Wyss Collaboratories Program
Our instrumentation program is a unique integration between our industry partners and our collaborative community of scientists and engineers, to drive progress and impact, spur entrepreneurship, and incubate innovation. Our partners present instruments to the Wyss’ engineering community in need of novel workflows, which identifies projects poised for validation and translation that can benefit from specific instruments, and new industry collaborations are born. The outcomes enable new research breakthroughs at the Wyss Institute through use cases, startup establishment, and published novel applications. To learn more, please contact Jonelle Prill-Tate.
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 societal impact to the world.
Nanoparticle “backpacks” loaded with different cargoes can be attached to macrophages and other immune cells to dial inflammation up or down in different contexts, deliver drugs to their targets, and more.
Faculty Lead Contact Samir Mitragotri Ally Chang
3D-printed breast tissue derived from a patient’s own cells that can be easily integrated with the vascular system to offer a safer option for breast reconstruction after surgery.
DNA origami-based nanoparticle vaccines that overcome the challenges of existing nanoparticles by offering greater stability and drug loading capacity while, importantly, enabling nano-scale control of cargo spacing to teach immune cells to identify and eliminate cancer cells throughout the body.
Faculty Lead Contact Jennifer Lewis Gretchen Fougere
Collaborate with us
Faculty Lead Contact William Shih Ally Chang
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 Angelika Fretzen
Cellular Backpacks
DoriVac
ReConstruct
Catalytic Materials for Air Pollution
Nanostructures inspired by the architecture of butterfly wings enable air purification at a much lower cost than traditional catalytic converters.
Faculty Lead Contact Joanna Aizenberg Ally Chang
Nixe: Environmentally friendly PFA replacements
The Nixe team is creating a safe, biodegradable waterproof coating for textiles as a replacement for PFAs (“forever chemicals”), inspired by the microscopically bumpy surface of water repellent lotus leaves.
Faculty Lead Contact Joanna Aizenberg Alex Li
Crisscross Diagnostics
A DNA-based nanotechnology that can detect and amplify tiny amounts of a target molecule in a sample at room temperature within 15 minutes, opening a new frontier for low-cost, athome diagnostics.
Faculty Lead Contact William Shih Ally Chang
COLLABORATION OPPORTUNITIES
GeneSkin: A novel therapy for skin rejuvenation and scar treatment
The GeneSkin team has discovered new gene targets that regulate scarring and fibrosis in skin, and is validating those targets in vitro and in vivo to drive the creation of new therapies.
Faculty Lead Contact George Church Bill Bedell
A wearable soft robotic device that can detect and monitor muscle rigidity in patients with Parkinson’s disease, allowing doctors to remotely monitor their patients’ disease progression over time.
Faculty Lead Contact Conor Walsh Ally Chang
COPDx: Diagnostics to rapidly triage chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
The COPDx team is creating a diagnostic based on newly discovered biomarkers of acute exacerbations (AEs), helping to quickly triage COPD patients and help save lives.
Faculty Leads Contact Don Ingber, David Walt Gretchen Fougere
MILESTONES
SINCE 2009
We are a collaborative non-profit Institute committed to enabling impact that will improve the lives of people and protect our planet.
WYSS-ENABLED
STARTUPS & LICENSING NEWS
Attivare Therapeutics licensed immune-modulating biomaterial technologies developed at the Wyss that enable the creation of a training ground for the immune systems in patients. The startup aims to use this new capability to advance disease-specific immunotherapies for diseases with high unmet needs.
General Biologics launched to bring Targeted Erythropoietin, a therapy that normalizes oxygen levels, to patients suffering from COPD, cystic fibrosis, severe COVID-19, anemia, and more. The company was a member of the Spring 2023 Cohort of MassBioDrive and has an ongoing partnership with Air Force Research.
Reel Foods is creating clean and sustainable cell-cultured fish fillets in a novel vascular bioreactor to overcome the scalability and cost challenges of cultivated meat.
Breaking, a synthetic biology company gestated at Wyss startup Colossal Biosciences and based on a core discovery out of the Wyss Institute, launched to commercialize their plastic-eating microbe technology to reduce global plastic waste and mitigate pollution.
Massive Photonics is commercializing super-resolution imaging technology developed at the Wyss that allows researchers to visualize large numbers of molecules at the same time and at low costs.
Ropirio Therapeutics is a lymphatic medicine company that is developing the world’s first drugs that specifically target and activate lymphatic vessels when they shut down due to inflammation or injury.
LICENSED SINCE JUNE 2023
Digital Biology launched a platform that directly links cell and tissue phenotypes to underlying molecules, drawing actionable insights from cellular systems. Their cutting-edge platform enables partners to dive deeper into mechanism and biodistribution, to screen and optimize the nextgeneration of therapies, in context.
This year, six companies licensed brain transport models that were developed through the Wyss Brain Targeting Program (BTP). The BTP continued its pre-competitive sponsored research program to develop novel brain shuttles that can improve the delivery of drugs into the brain. Further, it initiated a non-exclusive licensing program to make this technology available to any company, researcher, or innovator seeking to bring new brain-targeted therapeutics to patients.
If you are interested in licensing our brain shuttle technology to advance treatment of neurodegenerative disorders, or learning more about Wyss IP available for licensing for other applications, please get in touch.
FEATURED STARTUP NEWS
Real World & Clinical Impact
Editas Medicine’s Gene Editing Therapy improved vision in some people with inherited blindness.
eGenesis supplied a geneticallymodified pig kidney that was successfully transplanted into a human patient in a surgery performed at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Gameto announced findings that women using their minimal hormonal stimulation approach reported experiencing fewer side effects, lower levels of pain after egg retrieval, and higher satisfaction levels with the shortened stimulation procedure, compared to conventional stimulation for IVF.
Manifold Bio published comprehensive mutagenesis maps of the effect of all single-codon mutations in the AAV2 rep gene on AAV production.
Orionis Biosciences announced the first patient dosed in Phase 1 clinical trial of ORB-011 in patients with advanced solid tumors.
Prapela initiated a clinical study with Tufts Medical Center to treat apnea of prematurity (AOP) with their stochastic resonance infant mattress.
Unravel initiated a clinical study in collaboration with Vanderbilt University Medical Center to evaluate vorinostat (RVL001), an FDAapproved drug predicted by Unravel’s BioNAV platform as a potential treatment for Rett syndrome. Unravel also initiated an RVL-001 clinical program in Colombia for Rett syndrome with a Clinical Trial Tool Translation.
Verve Motion released results of a four-year study demonstrating significant reduction in workplace injuries and enhanced worker wellbeing for industrial workers using their soft exosuit.
Verve Therapeutics dosed their first patient in a Phase 1b clinical trial evaluating VERVE-102 for cardiovascular disease.
Regulatory Approval
Editas Medicine was granted FDA Regenerative Medicine Advanced Therapy Designation for Severe Sickle Cell Disease Treatment.
Verve Therapeutics received regulatory clearances for the VERVE-102 clinical trial in the U.K. and Canada in patients with HeFH or premature coronary artery disease.
Products
3EO Health launched a point-ofcare molecular COVID-19 test after receiving FDA Emergency Use Authorization.
Dyno Therapeutics unveiled a path to exponentially reduce the cost of in vivo gene delivery at the 2024 American Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ASGCT) Annual Meeting.
EnPlusOne announced at the TIDES USA conference the first known template-free enzymatic synthesis of a fully modified siRNA length
oligonucleotide, demonstrating the advancement of their ezRNA platform for developing life-saving molecules.
FitBiomics launched their second commercial product, Veillonella, which was found to markedly reduce fatigue across multiple categories while also promoting more physical activity.
Kula Bio launched Kula-N, its first commercial product of economically and environmentally friendly organic fertilizer that reduces the negative environmental impacts compared to traditional nitrogen fertilizers.
Tender Food partnered with Clover, a vegetarian fast-food chain that now offers Tender products in all their Massachusetts locations.
Pristine Surgical released their Summit 4K Single-Use Arthroscope in the U.S.
Rhinostics launched the ELEstic™/ ELEbot™ Platform, bringing proven automated swab workflows to broad diagnostics systems.
Spear Bio launched NAB-Sure Test Kits, an ultrasensitive immunoassay neutralizing antibody test kit for COVID variants.
Ultivue announced its STARVUE™ Image Data Science Platform, providing researchers with an integrated, AI-driven analytical solution for generating spatial insights. Ultivue also announced the launch of new configurable multiplex spatial panels at the 2023 Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer meeting.
$560M+
FUNDING SECURED BY STARTUPS IN THE PAST YEAR
Funding
3EO Health received a $6M NIH RADx Tech Award to expand application of its 3TR Point of Care Technology.
Breaking launched from stealth with $10.5M in seed funding.
Circe closed a $5M funding round.
eGenesis raised $191M Series D to advance transplants of genetically edited pig organs.
Emulate completed a $44.4M Series F funding round in March.
EnCarta Dx secured $1.6M in preseed funding to develop a molecular Lyme disease diagnostic kit.
Gameto secured $33M to transform fertility therapies through cellular engineering.
GRObio secured $60.3M in Series B financing to advance protein therapeutics.
i2O Therapeutics closed a $46M Series A financing round.
Nabla Bio, founded by Wyss Lumineers, secured $26M Series A financing.
Orionis Biosciences secured $55M in financing to support advancement into the clinic.
Prapela was awarded a $3M Phase II SBIR grant from the NIH.
Rejuvenate Bio received $4M in funding from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
Spear Bio secured $45M in oversubscribed Series A financing to accelerate product launch for protein research and disease diagnostics.
Tender Food raised $11M to scale alternative protein production in 2024.
Unravel received funding from the Pitt Hopkins Research Foundation to fund their clinical trial in Colombia to assess the efficacy of vorinostat (RVL-001), predicted by Unravel’s BioNAV platform, in patients with Pitt Hopkins Syndrome (PTHS).
Trestle Biotherapeutics won a $1M KidneyX Prize.
Verve Motion raised $20M in Series B financing.
Collaboration
Attivare and Dave Mooney’s team at the Wyss received a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to develop a slowrelease malaria vaccine with superior durability and a simpler dosing regimen.
Dyno Therapeutics is collaborating with leading AI chip maker NVIDIA to accelerate the design of gene delivery vectors by deploying Dyno’s sequence design models on NVIDIA’s compute platforms and BioNeMo framework.
Gameto inked a stem cell deal with Reprocell for a female fertility program.
i2O Therapeutics received a strategic investment from Colorcon Ventures and entered into a research collaboration with them.
Nabla Bio is collaborating with AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers Squibb, and Takeda for generative protein design.
Rejuvenate Bio announced a partnership with a leading animal health company to develop a gene therapy for canine osteoarthritis.
Unravel introduced rareSHIFT services to efficiently partner with biotechs and foundations who use the power of their unique BioNAV platform to reach their strategic goals faster through patient-centric dataset generation and analysis.
IMPACT TODAY
CRISPR: From the Lab to Impact
CRISPR, a powerful gene editing tool, achieved major milestones this past year, thanks in part to discoveries by Wyss Core Faculty member George Church and his collaborators. Their innovations are directly impacting patients’ lives today.
“I’ve been driven by the combination of science and engineering that results in positive societal impact. This is also core to the mission of the Wyss Institute.” – George Church, Ph.D.
CRISPR’S milestones include a kidney transplant from a CRISPR-modified pig, developed by Wyss startup eGenesis, which offers hope to thousands on organ donation waitlists; Casgevy, an FDA-approved treatment for sickle cell disease developed by Vertex Pharmaceuticals and enabled by Wyss spinout Editas Medicine; a therapy for hereditary blindness pioneered by Editas Medicine, and more.
These milestones showcase CRISPR’s potential for curing diseases and saving lives, and we look forward to witnessing its growing impact into the future.
Read the full story on our website.
WYSS COMMUNITY AWARDS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Congratulations to all of our hard-working practical dreamers on their many accomplishments this past year!
FACULTY AWARDS
Natalie Artzi was elected as a fellow of the Controlled Release Society and the AIMBE College of Fellows. She won the Clemson Award for Applied Research from the Society for Biomaterials, and an Acta Biomaterialia Medal from Elsevier Material Science in 2024. Artzi’s Melanoma Treatment Monitoring project was also a semifinalist in the 2023 STAT Madness Competition.
Sangeeta Bhatia was elected as a 2023 Foreign Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences & Engineering.
George Church won a 2024 Dean’s Innovation Award for the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Research, and Administration from Harvard Medical School.
Jim Collins won the 2023 Feynman Prize in Experiment from the Foresight Institute, and was recognized as a 2023 Clarivate Citation Laureate by the Institute for Scientific Information.
Don Ingber won the 2023 Russell & Burch Award from the Humane Society of the United States, and was honored for his significant Organ Chip contributions by
Massachusetts State Representative Jack Patrick Lewis in 2023.
Samir Mitragotri won the 2024 Distinguished Scientist Award from the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, and the 2023 Samyang Award from the Controlled Release Society.
Dave Mooney won the 2024 Pierre Galletti Award from the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering.
Michael Springer won the 2023 George Ledlie Prize for Contributions to Science and Society from Harvard Medical School.
David Weitz won the 2024 Bower Award and Prize for Achievement in Science from The Franklin Institute.
13 Wyss members were named Highly Cited Researchers by Clarivate Analytics in 2023.
AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE
The Wyss Communications and Events Teams won five 2024 Communicator Awards of Excellence from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts for their Reimagine the World campaign and the Wyss Institute website.
STUDENT AND STAFF AWARDS
Angelika Fretzen won the 2024 Joseph B. Martin Dean’s Leadership Award for the Advancement of Women’s Careers at HMS/ HSDM from the Joint Committee on the Status of Women at Harvard University.
Tetsuhiro Harimoto was named one of MIT Technology Review’s Innovators Under 35 in 2023.
Kasia Kready won a 2024 Fujifilm Fellowship from FUJIFILM Corporation.
Dima Ter-Ovanesyan and George Church won a 2024 Dean’s Innovation Award for the Use of Artificial Intelligence in Education, Research, and Administration from Harvard Medical School.
Starr Thomas and Sara Whiteman were nominated for the 2024 Dolores J. Brown Staff Award from Harvard Medical School.
Juan Mauricio Pérez won the 2023 Ayis Antoniou Award for Excellence in Administration and Operations at the Wyss Institute.
Vinny Suja won the 2024 Viktor K. Lamer Award from the American Chemical Society.
ENTREPRENEURIAL AWARDS AND RECOGNITION
WYSS STARTUP AWARDS
Breaking won the 2024 Sustainability Award from the Business Intelligence Group.
eGenesis was named to TIME Magazine’s 100 list of Most Influential Companies for 2024 for pioneering xenotransplantation.
Emulate won the 2024 Lush Prize in Science for validating their Human Liver Chip for Preclinical Toxicology, and the 2023 Technology Innovation Leadership Award from Frost & Sullivan.
Pluto Biosciences was recognized as a High Performer by Pharma & Biotech in the Fall 2023 G2 Grid Report, was selected as a winner of the 2024 Q2 Product
Awards by Products that Count, and was among the top 20 Life Science Companies named to the BioTools Innovator 2024 cohort.
ReConstruct Bio was named a 2024 Accelerator Company by MedTech Innovator.
Trestle Biotherapeutics was named one of 2023’s Artificial Kidney Prize Phase 2 Winners by the KidneyX Innovation Accelerator.
WYSS LUMINEER AWARDS
Kristin Nuckols, Co-Founder & Chief Clinical Officer at Imago Rehab, was honored by the National Board for Certification in Occupational Therapy with the 2024 NBCOT Innovation Award for her groundbreaking work in stroke rehabilitation.
Eriona Hysolli, Head of Biological Sciences at Colossal Biosciences, was named one of 2023’s TIME 100 Next by TIME Magazine
Josie Kishi, Co-Founder & CEO at Digital Biology, was named one of 2024’s Innovators Under 35 by MIT Technology Review.
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.
FY23 FINANCIAL RECAP
FY23 Wyss Institute Income
In the financial summary, the Institute reported a total revenue of $49M in fiscal year (FY) 2023 drawn from a wide variety of funding sources, excluding philanthropic gifts recognized in FY22 and later spent in FY23. The largest contribution came from Federal Grants & Contracts, which accounted for $19M, emphasizing the Institute’s strong collaboration with government agencies. Industrial Grants & Contracts provided $16M, showcasing the Institute’s solid partnerships with industry partners. Gifts for Current Use contributed $9M, underscoring the critical role of philanthropic support in advancing the Institute’s mission. Investment Earnings provided $3M, reflecting sound financial management and income generation through investments. Additionally, Royalties Distribution and Other Income together brought in $2M. This diversified revenue structure demonstrates the balanced approach to secure financial resources from multiple sectors, ensuring both stability and sustainability in the Institute’s operations.
FY23 Wyss Institute Operating Expenses
The Institute’s total operating expenses for fiscal year 2023 reached $86M, covering a broad range of essential cost categories critical to its operations. The largest portion, Personnel Costs, amounted to $34M, highlighting the Institute’s significant investment in its workforce, which is vital for driving research, innovation, and administrative activities. Space & Occupancy expenses totaled $23M, supporting the research space and facilities, and other operational environments essential for the Institute’s daily functions. An additional $23M was allocated to Supplies, Equipment, Lab Services and Others while Sponsored Subcontracts accounted for $6M.
This allocation of resources underscores the Institute’s commitment to operational excellence, ensuring the infrastructure and workforce are in place to advance its research and educational missions.
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
Matt Makarewicz, M.B.A., Chief Financial Officer
Core Faculty
Natalie Artzi, Ph.D., Drug Delivery, HMS, BWH, MIT
Christopher Chen, M.D., Ph.D., Tissue Engineering, BU
George Church, Ph.D., Genome Engineering, HMS
Jim Collins, Ph.D., Synthetic Biology & Machine Learning, MIT
Don Ingber, M.D., Ph.D., Cell Biology & Medicine, HMS, BCH, Harvard SEAS
Jennifer Lewis, Sc.D., Materials Science & 3D Printing, Harvard SEAS
Samir Mitragotri, Ph.D., Chemical Engineering, Harvard SEAS
Dave Mooney, Ph.D., Tissue Engineering, Harvard SEAS
William Shih, Ph.D., Biophysics & Nanotechnology, HMS, DFCI
Pam Silver, Ph.D., Synthetic Biology, HMS
David Walt, Ph.D., Chemistry & Diagnostics, HMS, BWH
Peng Yin, Ph.D., Nanotechnology & Computer Science, HMS
Board of Directors
Hansjörg Wyss, M.B.A., Co-Chair, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist
John H. Shaw, Ph.D., Co-Chair, Vice Provost for Research, Harvard University
Robert (Bob) P. Bland, M.B.A., Retired Business Executive
George Q. Daley, M.D., Ph.D., Dean, Harvard Medical School
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
David Parkes, Ph.D., Dean, John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Philip Reilly, M.D., J.D., Venture Partner, Third Rock Ventures, Biotech Entrepreneur
Meredith Weenick, M.B.A., Executive Vice President, Harvard University
WYSS INSTITUTE
AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY
We are a research and development engine for disruptive innovation powered by bioinspired technologies with visionary people at its heart.
Our mission is to transform healthcare and the environment by emulating the way Nature builds.
Our unique model of technology translation breaks down the traditional silos of academia and barriers with industry, enabling our world-leading visionary faculty to collaborate creatively across our focus areas of diagnostics, therapeutics, medtech, and sustainable solutions.
Discoveries can’t change the world if they don’t leave the lab
Since our founding in 2009, we have demonstrated our ability to generate a pipeline of groundbreaking ideas and invent breakthrough technologies that address global challenges in healthcare and the environment through interdisciplinary collaboration, both within Harvard and through partnerships with leading institutions in the Boston/Cambridge ecosystem and around the world.
Our technologies are developed through strategic partnerships with industry, government, foundations, investors and philanthropists, and they are rapidly brought to the marketplace through licensing agreements and the creation of new startups. By harnessing the ingenuity of our 12 Core and 11 Associate Faculty, the Wyss Institute enables a significant portion of all intellectual property and startups that emerge from Harvard annually, with more than 1,620 issued patents, 136 licensing agreements, and 66 startups launched since our inception.
© 2024 President and Fellows of Harvard College
Hansjörg Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University