Features Archives | Page 5 of 6

PRESS RELEASE – Ragon faculty study finds combination of two drugs increases the vulnerability of HIV-1 reservoir cells to the immune system.

Feb 29, 2024 Features

Ragon faculty Mathias Lichterfeld, MD, PhD, and Xu Yu, MD, have co-authored a paper published in Cell which found evidence that a combination of two drugs increases the vulnerability of HIV-1 reservoir cells to the immune system — which shows promising results in targeting and reducing the HIV-1 reservoir in people living with HIV. Using […]

REITHERA SRL, THE RAGON INSTITUTE AND IAVI ANNOUNCE COLLABORATION TO ADVANCE HIGHLY NETWORKED T CELL HIV VACCINE CANDIDATE TOWARDS PHASE I CLINICAL EVALUATION

Feb 5, 2024 Features

Novel HIV vaccine candidate based on Gorilla adenoviral vector (GRAd-HIV) funded by The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to alleviate the disease burden and improve the lives of the millions who lack access to prevention options ReiThera Srl, the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard, and IAVI are pleased to announce a collaboration […]

How Bats Can Reveal the Secrets of our Immune System – Part 2 of the Schmidt Lab Series

Jan 9, 2024 Features

Bats can be terrifying — from their fantastical association with vampires to their less fantastical, very real propensity for spreading rabies. These winged mammals have provoked fear in many people no matter how cute they are (to some!). But they might also be the key to solving some of the biggest mysteries in virology and […]

A Biostat Course Taught Across the World – Empowering Students in Sub-Saharan Africa

Dec 13, 2023 Features

Dr. Ghebremichael’s course provides a unique learning opportunity for students and a way to develop the field of biostatistics in their own communities Naledi Tapologo is a research assistant from Botswana with dreams of a long career in medical research. She said she thanked God when she saw an email in her inbox recently. That […]

An Interview with Azza Idris, the Leading Malaria Researcher Joining the Ragon Faculty

Nov 27, 2023 Features

Last month, the Ragon was honored to welcome Azza Idris, MD, PhD, as our newest faculty member. She holds a dual appointment between the Ragon and the Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Global Health Divisions at Mass General for Children (MGfC). A renowned researcher in malaria, Dr. Idris has worked for institutions such as the NIH […]

Thumbi Ndung’u Honored with Chan School, Retrovirology Awards

Oct 27, 2023 Features

Both awards recognized his lifelong commitment to HIV research and his leadership in this field on the African continent Ragon associate member Thumbi Ndung’u, PhD, was recently awarded the 2023 Leadership Award in Public Health Practice by the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health as well as the K.T. Jeang Retrovirology Prize from a […]

Two Weeks in Kenya — The Ragon researchers who joined a field expedition to study bats in an African rainforest

Sep 22, 2023 Features

The multinational research group collected samples to understand the immune systems of bats. High up in the mountains of Kenya are the lush Taita Hills — a vibrant and beautiful rainforest that seems entirely detached from the dry savannah common in the rest of the country. It is roughly halfway between the two largest cities […]

An Interview with Sophia Liu, the Newest Member of the Ragon Faculty

Sep 1, 2023 Features

With the launch of the Liu Lab today, the Ragon welcomes its newest Early Independence Fellow — Sophia Liu, PhD, and her team will spend the next five years building tools to study cell interactions in order to further our understanding of, and find ways to improve, the human immune system. The Institute is honored […]

Ragon Faculty Participate in Harvard Chan Study on Promising HIV Treatment for Infants

Aug 14, 2023 Features

Botswana trial shows potential of bNAbs as a new avenue for treatment. Two faculty members from the Ragon Institute took part in a clinical trial in Botswana that found a potential alternative treatment to antiretroviral therapy for children with HIV — an important step in the fight to eliminate the virus. Mathias Lichterfeld, MD, PhD, […]

The Giuliani Foundation Pledges Gift to Establish Endowed Faculty Support Fund

Aug 8, 2023 Features

The Ragon Institute is thrilled to announce the receipt of a generous gift from the Giuliani Foundation to establish the Giammaria and Sabrina Giuliani Endowed Faculty Support Fund — a permanent endowment that will support Ragon faculty who are pursuing research in human health and the immune system. The Giulianis’ exceptional contribution will fuel our […]

A Shared Passion for HIV Cure Research

Apr 19, 2023 Features

amfAR grantees Drs. Xu Yu and Mathias Lichterfeld discuss their differing approaches to curing HIV With a shared passion for science, this husband-wife team—he from Germany, she from China—are a prolific couple in the field of HIV cure research, regularly publishing in leading peer-reviewed journals. Dr. Xu Yu is an Associate Professor of Medicine at […]

Researchers uncover how HIV reservoir cells resist elimination by human immune responses

Jan 4, 2023 Features

Media Contacts: Emily Makowski, 617-468-8970, [email protected] Serena Bronda, 857-869-7828, [email protected] Key Takeaways Researchers used a new single-cell proteogenomic profiling technique, PheP-Seq, to characterize surface markers of HIV reservoir cells from blood and lymph node samples from persons living with HIV They found specific biomarkers in these cells associated with resistance to elimination by human immune […]

Researchers reveal how long-term antiretroviral therapy shapes viral reservoirs in HIV-positive individuals

Jan 2, 2023 Features

Media Contacts: Emily Makowski, 617-468-8970, [email protected] Serena Bronda, 857-869-7828, [email protected] Key Takeaways Researchers conducted a longitudinal analysis of HIV-1 reservoirs in people who have been on ART for approximately two decades. The findings suggest that long-term ART causes the immune system to select for latent HIV reservoirs that are in integrated in “block and lock” […]

A “Prevention Revolution” Offers Hope in the World’s Largest HIV Epidemic

Dec 5, 2022 Features

Article from The Nation featuring Dr. Thumbi Ndung’u and the Females Rising through Education, Support and Health (FRESH) program: thenation.com/article/world/prep-south-africa/

When Good T cells Go Bad

Sep 8, 2021 Features

Ragon researchers find impaired T cells precede loss of HIV control. HIV is a master of evading the immune system, using a variety of methods to prevent the body from being able to find and kill it. The vast majority of people living with HIV require daily medication to suppress the virus and therefore prevent […]

Engineered to Fight: Dual CAR T cells show promise against HIV

Jun 3, 2021 Features

A recent study published in the journal Nature Medicine, led by researchers Todd Allen, PhD, a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Group Leader at the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard, and Jim Riley, PhD, a professor of Microbiology in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, […]