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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 […]

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” […]

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, […]

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

Aug 31, 2020 Features

Researchers from the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania developed a new Dual CAR T cell immunotherapy that combats HIV infection in humanized mice. Image: HIV infecting a human cell, courtesy of NIH Image library A recent study published in the journal […]

5 South African Traditional Healers honored in the USA

May 16, 2019 Features

Five Traditional Healers from KwaZulu-Natal – who are central to an innovative program run in partnership with a local South African NGO and the KZN Department of Health – traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts, where they were hosted for five days and honored for their work by the prestigious Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and […]

Ragon Institute study identifies viral peptides critical to natural HIV control

May 2, 2019 Features

T-cell targeting of essential amino acids may underlie spontaneous HIV suppression, define path to a vaccine CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Investigators at the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard have used a novel approach to identify specific amino acids in the protein structure of HIV that appear critical to the ability of the virus […]

FRESH program combines basic science with social benefits for women at risk of HIV

Sep 17, 2018 Features

Ragon Institute initiative addresses socioeconomic factors affecting HIV risk in young women in South Africa A program established by investigators from the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), MIT and Harvard is addressing the persistently elevated risk of HIV infection among young women in South Africa from two angles – first, investigating biological factors […]

Workshop Encourages Rethinking of Global Health

Jul 12, 2016 Features

On May 9th 2016, the first Rethinking Global Health workshop was held at the MIT Media Lab. This event, organized by the newly formed student organization MIT Cost-effective Healthcare Initiative, was attended by a diverse group of over 180 students, faculty members, physicians, NGO representatives and industry representatives.   The goal of the workshop was […]

Aspinwall and Friends hold fundraiser for FRESH

Jul 31, 2013 Features

On the evening of July 18, 2013,  a benefit show was held in Boulder, Colorado to benefit the FRESH Study,  an HIV prevention and education program in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.   The musical evening, held at Nissi’s, an award-winning restaurant and music venue, raised nearly $1,500 in support of FRESH!  With this gift, FRESH will […]