The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

Overview

The Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering

The Wyss Institute was established in 2009 following a $125 million donation to Harvard University by Hansjorg Wyss. The institute was formed with the idea that a multidisciplinary institution could ferment enhanced innovation across multiple industries by maximizing collaboration, building on the Harvard Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, created a year prior. It is an alliance between multiple Universities and Hospitals in the Boston area including The Harvard Schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Art Science, The University of Massachusetts Medical Center, Tufts University, Boston University, Boston Children’s Hospital, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, the Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and Spaulding Rehabilitation Center. The institute conducts research that spans multiple fields, especially the eight major focus areas: 3D Organ Engineering, Adaptive Material Technologies, Bioinspired Robotics, Biomimetic Microsystems, Immuno-Materials, Living Cellular Devices, Molecular Robotics, and Synthetic Biology, all of which utilize natural organisms and processes as inspiration for emulation in the form of novel technologies. Research groups are led by one of 18 Core Faculty or one of 15 Associate Faculty members, who are supported by undergraduate students, graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, and advanced technology team members. The institute represents one of the first platforms for the simultaneous contribution of physicists, chemists, biologists, engineers, and clinicians towards engineering innovations that address common issues. A business development team and collaborations with other start-ups and corporations allow for the translation of technology into commercialized products.

Notable People

Hansjorg Wyss

Hansjorg Wyss is a Swiss engineer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist who earned a Master’s degree from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich and an MBA from Harvard University. Approximately ten years after receiving his MBA in 1965, Wyss was introduced to the biomedical device industry and in 1977 founded the American installation of the Swiss manufacturer, Synthes USA. Under the leadership and direction of Wyss, Synthes USA grew to become the leading producer of devices focusing on the treatment of broken bones and minor traumas. In 2012, Synthes USA was sold to Johnson & Johnson for $20.2 Billion. Wyss is worth approximately $5.5 Billion and has contributed to many charitable endeavors, most notably the $125 million donation given to Harvard University to form the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering in January, 2009. Wyss donated a further $125 million in 2013 to the Institute, which represented the largest individual donation in the history of the University. Other endeavors in which Wyss has been instrumental include the formation of the AO Foundation and the Wyss Foundation, which oversee the large scale management of musculoskeletal surgery and environmental preservation, respectively.

Donald Ingber

Donald Ingber is the Founding Director of the Wyss Institute, named to the position at the time of Hansjorg Wyss’s donation to Harvard in 2009. Ingber received his MD/PhD from Yale University Medical School in 1984 and has worked at Boston Children’s Hospital as a researcher and professor in the Vascular Biology department and as a professor of Bioengineering at Harvard University. Ingber’s work has focused on the importance of mechanical cell properties on structure, function, and cancer formation.

Timeline

• 1977: Hansjorg Wyss founds Synthes USA
• 2005: Provost of Harvard University forms committee to consider a biologically inspired engineering department
• 2008: Creation of the Harvard Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, given seed funding by Harvard University
• 2009: Hansjorg Wyss donates $125 million to found the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering
• 2013: *Hansjorg Wyss donates an additional $125 million. The Wyss Institute now employs 350 individuals

Tissue Engineering at the Wyss Institute

3D BioPrinting of Vascularized, Heterogeneous Cell-Laden Tissue Constructs

The Kolesky Group at the Wyss Institute has formulated a method to develope three dimensional tissue constructs that are able to incorporate vasculature into cell seeded synthetic extracelluar matrices (ECM). The goal is to create a perfusable construct that avoids regions of necrosis that unvascularized models are vulnerable to.

Vasculature

Pluronic F127 is a copolymer that is composed of two poly(ethylene oxide) components surrounding a hydrophobic poly(propylene oxide) component. Pluronic F127 is unique in that it has the ability to transition from a gelated state above a critical concentration and temperature in aqueous solution (21% by weight, 4 degrees Celcius) to a liquified state in which the poly(propylene oxide) becomes hydrated and the coplymer dissolves in water. It can therefore be printed as a gel and later removed as a liquid when the tissue construct is cooled below the critcal temperature. Pluronic F127 is biologically inert and therefor biocompatible with seeded endothelial cells.

ECM

The ECM was formed out of denatured collagen with functionalized methacrylate groups which determine the elasticity of the material, known as gelatin methacrylate. Gelatin methacrylate in cell culture media is a liquid above 23 degrees Celcius, but below this temperature forms a gelated ink that becomes more and more elastic with decreasing temperatures.