Using a multi-material 3D printer for manufacturing allowed Wyss Institute researchers to fabricate the jumping robot in one uninterrupted job, seamlessly transitioning from rigid core components to a soft exterior in a single print session. It's first ever robot to be 3D printed with layers of material gradients, making it extremely durable and giving the jumping robot a long lifespan of use, and could lead to a new class of functionally-graded soft robots. Learn more:...

Winner of the 2015 Director’s Challenge at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Metamorpho is a robotic platform designed for emulating the developmental induction of locomotor patterns across all animals. The robot will be used in further research.

Join the Wyss Institute Popup Challenge, a design contest based around the laminate design techniques outlined at popupcad.org. We hope to grow the community of people who can design, build, and operate laminate devices and micromechanisms. If you are a student considering using popups for a class project, a researcher who has an application for a new robot, or simply want to learn about the process, then consider submitting your design to the contest! For more information please visit...

In this video, researchers Michael Lobritz and James Collins explain how antibiotics can have vastly different effects on pathogenic bacteria and suggest potential implications for improving antibiotic treatments in infected patients. To learn more, visit http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/207

In this animation, see an example of how genetically engineered microbes being developed by researchers at the Wyss Institute could detect and treat a wide range of gastrointestinal illnesses and conditions. For more information, please visit http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/203/

The soft robotic glove under development at the Wyss Institute could one day be an assistive device used for grasping objects, which could help patients suffering from muscular dystrophy, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), incomplete spinal cord injury, or other hand impairments to regain some daily independence and control of their environment. For more information, please visit: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/200

The Wyss Institute’s Motion Capture Lab is a state of the art facility designed to measure and analyze human motion. It allows Wyss Institute scientists and their collaborators to design, build and test assistive technologies, ultimately accelerating the translation of new devices to improve human lives.

Chitin, a molecule that serves a purpose in the developmental biology of insects, fungi and shrimp, has long been a target of growth-inhibiting pesticides due to the belief that it did not exist in vertebrates. For decades, chitin-inhibiting pesticides have stunted the growth of insects and fungi to protect valuable crops. Now, research from the Wyss Institute has contributed to new findings that for the very first time reveal the presence of chitin in fish and amphibians, calling the...

In this video, the fluid-based gating mechanism separates gas and water. The fluid–filled pores system leverages pressurization to control the opening and closing of its liquid gates, making it extremely precise at separating mixed materials. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/194/

In this technical animation, Wyss Institute researchers instruct how they engineered a Cas9 protein to create a powerful and robust tool for activating gene expression. The novel method enables Cas9 to switch a gene from off to on and has the potential to precisely induce on-command expression of any of the countless genes in the genomes of yeast, flies, mice, or humans. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/192/

Wyss Human Organs–On–Chips will be on display at The Museum of Modern Art until January 2016. They have been formally acquired and will remain in MoMA's permanent collection. This short video accompanies the Organs–On–Chips in the exhibit space to help explain to visitors how the design of the chips allow them to emulate organ–level functions. More information: wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/193/

Wyss Institute Core Faculty member Rob Wood, who is also the Charles River Professor of Engineering and Applied Sciences at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), and SEAS Ph.D. student Sam Felton discuss their landmark achievement in robotics – getting a robot to assemble itself and walk away autonomously – as well as their vision for the future of robots that can be manufactured easily and inexpensively. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/162

Wyss Institute scientists discuss the collaborative environment and team effort that led to two breakthroughs in synthetic biology that can either stand alone as distinct advances – or combine forces to create truly tantalizing potentials in diagnostics and gene therapies. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/174/

Gel electrophoresis, a common laboratory process, sorts DNA or other small proteins by size and shape using electrical currents to move molecules through small pores in gel. The process can be combined with novel DNA nanoswitches, developed by Wyss Associate Faculty member Wesley Wong, to allow for the simple and inexpensive investigation of life's most powerful molecular interactions. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpage/554

Wyss Institute Founding Director Don Ingber, Senior Staff Scientist Michael Super and Technology Development Fellow Joo Kang explain how they engineered the Mannose-binding lectin (MBL) protein to bind to a wide range of sepsis-causing pathogens and then safely remove the pathogens from the bloodstream using a novel microfluidic spleen-like device. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/166/bloodcleansing-biospleen-device-developed-for-sepsis-therapy

Six years ago the Wyss Institute began as a risky start up. It is now a multidisciplinary institute that is an engine for disruptive innovation.

In this video Wyss Institute Core Faculty member Neel Joshi and Postdoctoral Fellow Peter Nguyen describe how their protein engineering system called BIND (Biofilm-Integrated Nanofiber Display) could be used to redefine biofilms as large-scale production platforms for biomaterials that can be programmed to provide functions not possible with existing materials. An animation depicts how it works on a molecular level. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/167

In this video, Harvard faculty member Conor Walsh and members of his team explain how the biologically inspired Soft Exosuit targets enhancing the mobility of healthy individuals and restoring the mobility of those with physical disabilities. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/165 Note: This technology is currently in the research and development phase and is not available commercially. Any suggested or implied claims have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug...

In this animation, learn how CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing technology can be used to precisely disrupt and modify specific genes. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/180/broad-institute-harvard-and-mit-license-crisprcas9-technology-to-editas-medicine-for-therapeutic-applications

In this animation, Wyss Institute Postdoctoral Fellow Alex Green, Ph.D., the lead author of "Toehold Switches: De–Novo–Designed Regulators of Gene Expression", narrates a step–by–step guide to the mechanism of the synthetic toehold switch gene regulator. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/174/

In this video, Kilobots self-assemble in a thousand-robot swarm. The algorithm developed by Wyss Institute Core Faculty member Radhika Nagpal that enables the swarm provides a valuable platform for testing future collective Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/164

A team at the Wyss Institute is honing a tough, rubbery hydrogel initially developed at Harvard’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences. The gel is 90 percent water, yet it stretches without breaking to more than 20 times its original length and recoils like rubber, the researchers first reported in Nature in 2012. In fact, a tough hydrogel as thin as a nickel can rebound a stainless steel ball bearing dropped from more then seven feet. The gel combines two different types of polymers –...

In the past century plastic has transformed modern-day life on our planet, but is it sustainable? We produce 300 million tons of plastic per year* and recycle only 3%**. Are we content that the other 97% collects in oceans, landfills and the food chain? The challenge is clear: we will drown in plastic if we don't find a sustainable alternative. Harvard's Wyss Institute has developed a plastic made from shrimp shells that can be molded into everyday products in any size, shape and color....

Materials scientists at Harvard University have created lightweight cellular composites via 3D printing. These fiber-reinforced epoxy composites mimic the structure and performance of balsa wood. Because the fiber fillers align along the printing direction, their local orientation can be exquisitely controlled. These 3D composites may be useful for wind turbine, automotive and aerospace applications, where high stiffness- and strength-to-weight ratios are needed. More information:...

This animation explains how an emerging technology called "gene drives" may be used to potentially spread particular genomic alterations through targeted wild populations over many generations. It uses mosquitoes as an example of a target species — and illustrates how the versatile genome editing tool called CRISPR makes it possible. More information: http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/160/