GUEST AUTHOR: Nick Kolev

Facundo Batista, PhD, Scientific Director of the Ragon Institute, has been named the 2026 recipient of the AAI-BioLegend Herzenberg Award by the American Association of Immunologists (AAI). The award recognizes investigators who have made outstanding contributions to the field of B cell biology.

Established to honor the memory of the late Leonard A. Herzenberg, PhD—a pioneering immunologist who developed fluorescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) technology—the award is among the most distinguished honors in B cell research. Dr. Batista was selected by the AAI Council in recognition of his exceptional scientific leadership and lasting impact on the field.

Over the course of his career, Batista has fundamentally advanced our understanding of B cell biology. His research has elucidated how B cells recognize, extract, and present antigens, and his laboratory has developed cutting-edge humanized mouse models that are accelerating vaccine development for diseases including HIV, malaria, influenza, and SARS-CoV-2. Batista is also the Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Professor at MIT Biology and serves as Chief Editor of The EMBO Journal.

Batista will receive the award at IMMUNOLOGY2026, the AAI annual meeting, where he will also deliver a lecture highlighting his research.