Tag: Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Health

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.”

  • Health

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Health

    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.

  • Health

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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…

  • Campus & Community

    Nature by Design – Innovation at Harvard

    What can termites teach us about building complex computer systems?

  • Health

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Campus & Community

    Wyss Institute hosts competition

    The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering hosted an inaugural biomolecular design competition on Nov. 5.

  • Campus & Community

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Health

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Campus & Community

    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.

  • Campus & Community

    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…

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    Chips, efficient and fast

    Professor Gu-Yeon Wei explores energy-efficient computing devices that are fast but draw minimal power.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Science & Tech

    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.

  • Campus & Community

    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.