Ragon Institute
Jul 17, 2019
Could early treatment with antiretroviral (ARV) therapy help the body fight off HIV? Researchers affiliated with the Sub-Saharan African Network for TB/HIV Research Excellence (SANTHE) are convinced that early ARV therapy is critical to the treatment of HIV. Researchers at the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in Durban, South Africa are conducting studies they believe […]
Jul 11, 2019
Super-charging a treatment for leukemia also makes it effective on solid tumors. Anne Trafton | MIT News Office A promising new way to treat some types of cancer is to program the patient’s own T cells to destroy the cancerous cells. This approach, termed CAR-T cell therapy, is now used to combat some types of […]
Jul 2, 2019
Ursula Brunner, a Swiss lawyer who has spent her career working for social and environmental justice, has just made a $5 million donation to the Ragon Institute to establish the Brunner Fund for Medical Discovery, Education and Social Good. This unique fund integrates medical research with social interventions that provide immediate benefit to the patients […]
Jul 1, 2019
Some of the world’s brightest young health minds will be working under the supervision of senior HIV scientists to gain insight into combating this global epidemic. KWAZULU-NATAL, South Africa — Eight students from Harvard University are currently in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) for an intensive internship program to learn about the important HIV prevention and cure research […]
Jun 18, 2019
Team Ragon raises $64,014 for crucial services BOSTON, Mass. – On Sunday, June 2nd, 2019, more than 30 Team Ragon members, including Ragon Institute employees and their friends and family, gathered at the DCR Hatch Memorial Shell for the annual Boston AIDS Walk and 5K Run. The AIDS Walk, now in its 34th year, is […]
Jun 13, 2019
Ragon Institute-led study identifies factors contributing to placental transfer of antibodies CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – One of the most successful interventions in reducing infectious disease worldwide, vaccination still has limited effectiveness in protecting one group of patients – newborn infants. Now a study based at the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard has determined […]
May 28, 2019
Two-day symposium brings together experts in the growing field of neuroimmunology On March 28th and 29th, 2019, the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard hosted a Neuro-Immune Symposium with the goal of bringing together world-class experts in neuroimmunology and the related fields of neurobiology and immunology to share their cutting-edge research and discoveries, […]
May 22, 2019
Ragon Institute study findings could pave the way to vaccine development CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Instituting combination antiretroviral (ART) treatment at the earliest stages of HIV infection may allow the generation of functional CD8 “killer” T cells and preservation of the CD4 helper T cells that are the virus’s primary target. Investigators from the Ragon Institute […]
May 20, 2019
Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading infectious cause of death worldwide, and is caused by the slow growing bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb). Because the time between infection and disease can be long – years or even decades – a major challenge for public health is knowing who is at risk for becoming ill so that they […]
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 […]
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 […]
May 2, 2019
Largest gift in hospital history will bolster the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard BOSTON – Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) announced it has received the largest gift in the hospital’s history – $200 million – to endow the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard. This landmark contribution from philanthropists and longtime […]
Apr 26, 2019
We are thrilled to let you know that the MGH has received the largest philanthropic gift in its history – a $200 million contribution to support the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard. This extraordinary gift comes from Phillip (Terry) and Susan Ragon, long-time supporters of the hospital, whose transformational contribution will ensure […]
Apr 3, 2019
The availability of a variety of free, user-friendly statistical software packages has enabled many scientists to perform their own analyses and generate results without a formal knowledge of programming languages. This democratization of data science can be hugely important to researchers wishing to analyze and interpret their research data, but can be risky without sufficient […]
Feb 28, 2019
Sri Gowtham Thakku and Avilash Cramer | Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology This past January, we traveled to South Africa as part of the IAP class HST.434: Evolution of an Epidemic. The class, taught by Ragon Institute Director Dr. Bruce Walker and Dr. Howard Heller and offered to MIT undergraduates, examines the medical, scientific, […]
Nov 27, 2018
At the Ragon Institute, the communities and individuals affected by HIV and AIDS are the driving force behind the science. While much of our work focuses on the epicenter of the epidemic in Durban, South Africa, we know the importance of engaging communities in Boston as well. On Tuesday, November 20th, 2018 a team of […]