Annual Institute Retreat Fosters Collaboration

The annual Ragon Institute Retreat was held this fall in Hebron, New Hampshire and reinforced collaborative research ties across the institute.

“Collaboration” has long been the watchword of the Ragon Institute, and has typically been applied to collaboration with outside institutions and disciplines. However, with 28 labs at the Ragon Institute, all headed by a individual Principal Investigator working on a unique aspect of the HIV problem, its important to create opportunities to collaborate within the institute as well. This year’s Ragon Retreat was organized to do just that.

Planned and organized by the Ragon Institute’s two newest faculty members, Drs. Alex Balazs and Daniel Lingwood, the retreat took place at Camp Mowglis in Hebron, New Hampshire. Fifteen-minute talks were presented by 20 labs over the two days, in order to share research and findings and allow for comments and questions.

Besides the scientific talks, outdoor activities were planned including team building exercises and archery and riflery, which literally allowed researchers to “target” HIV vulnerabilities. The weekend was finished off by an after-dinner poster session and campfire.

“We wanted to create an experience that would not only give people an opportunity to learn about the exciting work that is ongoing in other labs, but also one that would get people to work together as a team” said retreat co-organizer Alex Balazs “Our hope is that this spirit of teamwork will continue through our work here at the institute“. In the end, no one person or laboratory will find a cure for HIV/AIDS; it will be a team effort.”