Ragon Institute
Jul 2, 2026 Features
The Kenyan researcher joined the Ragon for six weeks, collaborating on research on pregnant women with malaria. In May, the Idris Lab welcomed Dr. Bartholomew Ondigo, a visiting scholar from Kenya, to assist in Dr. Azza Idris’s ongoing research regarding the effects of malaria on pregnant women. Ondigo, a senior lecturer and principal investigator in […]
Jun 23, 2026 Features
Raphael Reyes, a research fellow in the Batista Lab at the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard, has been selected as a recipient of the 2026 Warren Alpert Distinguished Scholar Fellowship in Immunotherapy. The fellowship provides two years of funding to support his research investigating how the immune system helps maintain a healthy vaginal […]
Jun 16, 2026 Features
Harikesh Wong, PhD, a core member at the Ragon Institute and Assistant Professor in the MIT Department of Biology, has been named to the 2026 class of the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences. He is one of 21 early-career scientists selected this year by The Pew Charitable Trusts, which will provide four years […]
Jun 8, 2026 Features
Ragon faculty member Xu Yu, MD, is featured in a BBC Future article exploring why a small number of people, known as elite controllers, can suppress HIV without medication. Yu’s lab studies these individuals to uncover immune mechanisms that could inform a functional cure. Read the article here.
Jun 4, 2026 Features
Mass General Brigham has officially named Ragon faculty member Gaurav Gaiha, MD, DPhil, as the 2026 Giammaria and Sabrina Giuliani MGB Research Scholar, as part of the inaugural class of MGB Research Scholars. This award recognizes work that represents the very best of innovation, rigor, and promise across the MGB research community. He will hold […]
May 27, 2026 Awards
Facundo Batista, Scientific and Associate Director of the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard, has been elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, the United Kingdom’s national academy of sciences and one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious scientific institutions. Batista joins a 2026 cohort of more than 90 researchers from […]
May 18, 2026 Features
Earlier this year, the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard welcomed Jennie Ruelas Castillo, PhD, and Jonathan Padilla Gómez, PhD, as the inaugural recipients of the FEMSA Fellowship. The fellowship, part of a broader partnership between the Ragon Institute and Tecnológico de Monterrey, supports postdoctoral researchers who have completed studies at research […]
May 12, 2026 Features
The Ragon Institute is pleased to announce Carlos Casquero as the latest recipient of the Ramón Areces Foundation Research Fellowship at the Ragon Institute. The fellowship supports researchers with ties to Spain in pursuing immunology research at the Ragon in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Ramón Areces Foundation Research Fellowship is supported by a partnership between the […]
Apr 30, 2026 Research Highlights
A new study led by the Shalek Lab at the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard, as well as the Broad Institute, published in Science, shows how a protein called LAT coordinates the many signals that drive T cell activation. The findings reveal that LAT does not switch these signals on separately. Instead, it holds […]
Apr 28, 2026 Features
The Ragon is pleased to welcome Caroline Sokol, MD, PhD, as our newest faculty member. She leads the Sokol Lab as a Member of the Ragon Institute, while also serving as an Assistant Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A physician-scientist specializing in allergy and immunology, […]
Apr 22, 2026 Research Highlights
A small number of people living with HIV are able to durably suppress the virus after stopping antiretroviral therapy, a phenomenon that has long interested researchers searching for a functional cure. A new study from the Gaiha Lab at the Ragon Institute, published in Science Translational Medicine, helps explain why, and points to a specific […]
Apr 20, 2026 Features
A new study from the Dang Lab at the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, has found that the body’s immune system inadvertently protects a dangerous fungus from being destroyed, helping to explain why certain infections linger in the lungs for years and can reactivate with […]
Apr 2, 2026 Awards
The Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard is pleased to announce Jennie Ruelas Castillo, PhD, and Jonathan Padilla Gómez, PhD, as the inaugural recipients of the FEMSA Fellowship at the Ragon Institute. The fellowship supports postdoctoral researchers from Mexico in pursuing immunology research at the Ragon in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The FEMSA Fellowship is […]
Mar 27, 2026 Research Highlights
New findings could help clinicians predict which women will benefit from a breakthrough bacterial therapy for recurrent BV — the most common vaginal condition worldwide CAMBRIDGE, Mass. March 27, 2026 – A new study from the lab of Douglas Kwon, MD, PhD, a core member at the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and […]
Mar 17, 2026 Features
The Ragon Institute is proud to announce the 2026 recipients of the Giammaria and Sabrina Giuliani Faculty Support Fund, an endowed fund dedicated to advancing transformative research at the Institute. This year’s awardees are Amy Barczak, MD, Gaurav Gaiha, MD, DPhil, Douglas Kwon, MD, PhD, and Sophia Liu, PhD, four exceptional scientists whose work is […]
Mar 12, 2026 Features
The Ragon Institute is pleased to welcome Caroline Sokol, MD, PhD, as a new faculty member. Sokol will lead the Sokol Lab as a Member of the Ragon Institute, while also serving as an Assistant Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A physician-scientist with expertise in […]
Mar 6, 2026 Features
A new study from the Ghebremichael Lab at the Ragon Institute, published in the Biometrical Journal, introduces a statistical method that evaluates biologically linked outcomes jointly rather than relying on separate analyses that ignore their interdependence. The researchers demonstrated their methodology using data from a longitudinal pediatric HIV study examining the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy (ART). […]
Feb 25, 2026 Research Highlights
A new study from the Balazs Lab at the Ragon Institute, published in Immunity, demonstrates that HIV escapes broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) through a limited set of conserved mutation paths, and that manipulating the cost of those paths can dramatically improve therapeutic outcomes. Broadly neutralizing antibodies are among the most promising tools for treating and […]
Feb 18, 2026 Features
A multi-institutional study published in Science Immunology, led by the Batista Lab at the Ragon Institute, in collaboration with researchers at University of Pennsylvania, Scripps Research Institute, Columbia University, MIT, and others, demonstrates that a single immunization can rapidly generate antibodies capable of neutralizing a broad range of HIV strains, thereby offering a potential path toward simpler HIV […]