Wyss Institute

Harvard engineers have developed the world’s smallest Delta robot, dubbed the MilliDelta. As its name suggests, the new robot measures just a few millimeters, and could lend a hand in precise picking, packing, manufacturing and surgery on the micro scale.

While investigating the side effects of antibiotics and how bacteria can develop resistance to them, researchers from MIT and Harvard have found that the drugs can actually work against the body, weakening the immune system’s ability to fight off the bugs.

​Engineered bacteria can be great little workhorses, but they could be dangerous if they were to ever escape from their intended environments. To keep the critters in check, scientists from Harvard’s Wyss Institute have developed two types of “kill switches” that can be embedded in their genomes.

​When the Dusky Arion slug feels threatened, it secretes a mucus that makes it almost impossible to remove from whatever surface it happens to be on. Inspired by that, scientists have created an adhesive gel that could conceivably be used in the human body.

In ​Complete Locked-In State (CLIS) patients with fully functional brains are trapped in bodies that they have no control over. Now a team at the Wyss Center has found a way to monitor the brain activity of CLIS sufferers in a way that allows them to answer simple yes/no questions.

In a newly published study, Harvard researchers have taken another step forward in the development of a soft exosuit, isolating the suit's load-bearing benefits and determining that it can result in energy savings of almost 23 percent.​

Organs-on-chips allow the study of drugs and diseases without testing on animals or humans. Now a team at Harvard has designed a device that smokes cigarettes and sends the smoke through a lung-on-a-chip, to examine just how the habit damages health.

​Vaccines and treatments are constantly improving, but getting them to remote locations remains a challenge. Now a team at Wyss Institute has developed a portable system that can produce key biomolecules for treatment on demand, with no need for power or refrigeration – just add water.

A lightweight exosuit, which features a “soft” fabric-based design, could help patients with lower limb disabilities regain mobility. The institute has partnered with ReWalk Robotics – the biggest name in powered exoskeletons - for the ambitious project.

Researchers have developed a low-cost, paper-based method of detecting viruses like Zika and Ebola, and can even identify a specific strain. The team believes the test can be used in the field to quickly and easily detect the presence of a virus, and be used to slow the spread of future outbreaks.

Whenever foreign objects such as implants are placed within the human body, there's a danger that bacteria could collect on them, leading to infections. Now, however, scientists have created a material that's too slippery for those bacteria to cling onto. It works by continuously releasing oil.

Scientists have had some success activating the body's immune system to take the fight to cancer and other diseases, a process known as immunotherapy. Now, scientists a new method developed at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering promises to further advance the form of treatment