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Ragon Institute Women Make a Difference: Makhosi Tholakele Memela

Mar 23, 2022

When the voices of her ancestors called on Makhosi Tholakele Memela to become a sangoma, or Zulu healer, she said yes. Her traditional healer training included “birthing, respecting ancestors, healing people and communities, and suggesting herbal medicines,” but not treating the deadly disease that started killing her patients more than two decades into her practice. […]

Ragon Institute Women Make a Difference: Claire Brewer

Mar 21, 2022

Claire Brewer, the Ragon Institute’s Director of Information Technology since 2019, has been a trailblazer since her early teens. In the mid-1980s, at age fourteen, she was the only girl at her UK school studying computer science. Brewer attributes her early passion for technology to childhood influences both in her community and at home. As […]

AI/ML/Human Immunology Collaborative Initiative: Spotlight on Regina Barzilay

Mar 4, 2022

Regina Barzilay, PhD, a recently appointed Associate Member of the Ragon Institute and a MIT School of Engineering Distinguished Professor for AI and Health, is one of the principals of the new Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning/human immunology collaborative initiative of the Ragon Institute and the Abdul Latif Jameel Clinic for Machine Learning in Health and the […]

New research findings could help improve bone marrow and stem cell transplantation for patients with blood-related diseases

Mar 1, 2022

Scientists uncover the unique signature of genes expressed by hematopoietic stem cells capable of making healthy blood cells after being transplanted. BOSTON – Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) have the capacity to both self-renew and differentiate into all mature blood cell types, making them promising treatments for a variety of diseases. However, the mechanisms involved in engraftment—when the cells […]

Could a Cure for HIV Be a Cure for a Lot More?

Feb 28, 2022

“Because of the Ragon Institute’s careful work with HIV elite controllers, scientists now have a better understanding of not just HIV, but the body’s immune system.” Could the Cure for HIV be a Cure for a Lot More? Read the new article from T Brand Studio

Most people with prior SARS-CoV-2 infection or vaccination have T cell immune responses against Omicron variant despite low antibody responses

Feb 9, 2022

BOSTON – When an individual is infected with the COVID-19–causing virus SARS-CoV-2, the immune system is called into action to produce antibodies and T cells that target viral proteins and clear the infection. It has become clear that the recent Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 can unfortunately escape antibody responses even in many people who have been […]

Scientists identify second HIV patient whose body appears to have rid itself of the virus

Nov 18, 2021

BOSTON – During infection, HIV places copies of its genome into the DNA of cells, creating what is known as a viral reservoir. In this state, the virus effectively hides from anti-HIV drugs and the body’s immune response. In most people, new viral particles are constantly made from this reservoir. Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) can prevent the […]

Scientists create a new best-in-class anti-malarial antibody

Nov 17, 2021

One day, monoclonal antibodies could bridge the gaps in protection left by even highly effective vaccines. BOSTON – Longstanding and equally lethal infectious disease crises have continued unabated in the background of the COVID-19 pandemic. While the 2020 mortality data is still being assessed, malaria, which kills more than 400,000 people annually, seems to have far […]