Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering | People | Collection of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum

The Wyss Institute uses design principles seen in nature to develop materials and devices inspired by biology. The Institute works across the Harvard Schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Arts and Sciences, and in partnership with hospitals and other universities in the area. The Wyss Institute takes an interdisciplinary approach to solving problems based on an understanding of how living systems work.

We have 12 objects that Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering has been involved with.

Photograph of the outer surface of a coral skeleton, showing at very high magnification its complex three-dimensional microscopical structure. The image offers great detail and depth. We see many, evenly distributed small pores and apertures along the entire surface. Scattered on the surface are larger, depressed clusters of pores arranged like 12-armed stars. By looking in detail, we can see further, smaller porous structures inside these depressions. In the foreground, the surface forms six berry-shaped porous buds. There are no living polyps in the image, but only the outer skeleton structure. The surface has a stony appearance. The image is colorful, with gradations from teal, purple, pink, orange to yellow. Different hues are arranged like shadows, so that parts of the image that appear closer to the viewer have cooler colors, and warmer colors in parts of the image that are further away from the viewer. A predominance of yellow in the upper right suggests a source of light from that direction. In close-up this arrangement of colors appears also within individual pores. In this detailed and consistent manner across different scales, color strongly enhances the impression of three-dimensionality of the image.

A square, thin, transparent pouch is held up and stretched by two pairs of hands wearing purple laboratory gloves. The pouch appears pink against a bright orange background and seems made of a material similar to cellophane or cling wrap. In the middle of the pouch, roughly along a diagonal, there are five pairs of chambers that hold a slightly opaque liquid, while the rest of the pouch appears flat and empty. The five pairs of chambers appear to be folding up and down like mountain and valley folds in Origami. The chambers have sealed margins but are connected to each other at the folds by small unsealed openings through which the liquid passes. The top left and bottom right chambers are each connected to an injection needle with a tube closed by a plastic on/off clamp allowing to fill liquid into the chambers.

On a black blackground lies a blue and red gradient thin wire. The silcone tubing wires are intricately twisted into the shape of a leaf.

A black plate with a large, white circle in the middle holds a small, clear tray. In the tray is a white polymer, intended to replicate functions of different human organs. This would allow researchers to experiment with vaccines without testing on animals.

Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering has collaborated with
Donald Ingber and
Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences and
Charles Reilly and
Dongeun Huh and
Kevin Y. Ma and
Robert J. Wood and
Pakpong Chirarattananon and
Sawyer B. Fuller and
James C. Weaver and
David Mooney

Short URL: http://cprhw.tt/p/72MMM/
Person ID: 68248123
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