Harvard/Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
 Harvard/Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering  (Research institute)    | |
|---|---|
| Formation | 2009 |
| Founder | Hansjörg Wyss |
| Headquarters | Harvard, Massachusetts |
| Developing advanced biological technologies together with the military/intelligence organization DARPA | |
The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering is a cross-disciplinary research institute at Harvard University which focuses on developing bioinspired materials and devices for applications in healthcare and sustainability.
Research
Wyss is developing technologies together with the military/intelligence organization DARPA[1] centered around six "enabling technology platforms":
- Adaptive material technologies: Integrated multiscale structures composed of biomimetic materials and devices that dynamically adapt to their environments for energy and environmental applications, such as construction materials that harness energy, heat, and water
- Anticipatory medical and cellular devices: Development of controllable and dynamic devices to anticipate and detect malfunctions and infections in the body, and intervene to restore health, by taking advantage of the dynamic and changing nature of human physiology to engineer novel approaches for performance assessment, diagnosis, and therapeutic intervention
- Bioinspired robotics: Developing computer algorithms and sensor/actuator materials that enable robots to act collectively in response to changes in their environment, such as swarms of flying insect robots.
- Synthetic biology: Creating massively parallel capabilities for directed evolution of biomolecules and whole genomes for applications in cell reprogramming, drug delivery, regenerative medicine, and bioenergy
- Biomimetic microsystems: Engineering microsystem technologies that reconstitute complex human organ-level functions for use in drug testing, diagnostic and therapeutic applications
- Programmable nanomaterials: Creation of targetable, self-assembling nanotechnologies for regenerative medicine and drug delivery applications
Self-replicating living xenobots
In 2021, Wyss Institute, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Vermont and [[Tufts University], discovered an entirely new form of biological reproduction, and then applied the discovery to create the first-ever, self-replicating living xenobots.[2]
With an artificial intelligence program working on the Deep Green supercomputer cluster at UVM’s Vermont Advanced Computing Core, an evolutionary algorithm was able to test billions of body shapes in simulation—triangles, squares, pyramids, starfish—to find ones that allowed the cells to be more effective at the motion-based “kinematic” replication.
People have thought for quite a long time that we’ve worked out all the ways that life can reproduce or replicate. But this is something that’s never been observed before[2].
Funding
The Wyss Institute was launched in January 2009 with a $125 million gift to Harvard—at the time, the largest single philanthropic gift in its history—from billionaire conservationist Hansjörg Wyss.[3] In 2013, Hansjörg Wyss doubled his grant to $250 million[4] and in 2019 he donated a further $131 million.[5]
The institute also receives grants from the military/intelligence research organization DARPA.[1]
References
- ↑ a b https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/wyss-institute-to-receive-up-to-37-million-from-darpa-to-integrate-multiple-organ-on-chip-systems-to-mimic-the-whole-human-body/
- ↑ a b https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/team-builds-first-living-robots-that-can-reproduce/
- ↑ http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2008/10/hansjorg-wyss-gives-125m-to-create-institute/
- ↑ http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2013/05/wyss-gift/
- ↑ https://www.forbes.com/sites/denizcam/2019/06/07/swiss-billionaire-hansjoerg-wyss-131-million-donation-to-harvard/
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