Ragon Institute
Jun 10, 2024 Features
New research published today by scientists at the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT and Harvard, the University of Oxford, the University of KwaZulu-Natal and the African Health Research Institute in South Africa, shows that male infants are more likely to achieve HIV cure/remission than females. The peer-reviewed study, published by Nature Medicine, assessed […]
May 30, 2024 Features
Batista Lab postdoctoral fellow Rashmi Ray, PhD, was the first author of the paper published in Nature. Decades into the HIV epidemic, there is as yet no effective vaccine to prevent new cases. In a recent Nature Immunology article (Ray et al.), the Batista lab of the Ragon Institute has preclinically validated a new HIV […]
May 28, 2024 Features
Ragon faculty member Alejandro Balazs, PhD, has been awarded a prestigious Avant-Garde Award for HIV and Substance Use Disorder Research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This award is part of the NIH Director’s Pioneer Award mechanism, which supports individual scientists of exceptional creativity who […]
May 23, 2024
Earlier this month, the 2024 Ragon PRISM Science Club concluded after eight weeks of providing high school students from underrepresented communities in the Greater Boston area a hands-on experience of scientific research. Pictured above are our 2024 students. The program, launched in 2022, is a joint effort between the Ragon Institute, MIT’s Institute for Medical […]
May 23, 2024 Features
We are proud to recognize Sophie Giguere, PhD, a Batista Lab graduate student who has been honored with the prestigious 2023 Jeffrey Modell Prize. This award, conferred jointly by the Jeffrey Modell Foundation and the Harvard Medical School Graduate Committee of Immunology, recognizes HMS graduates for outstanding achievements in their doctoral research and overall excellence […]
May 20, 2024 Features
HIV has proven a hard target for vaccine design. The most promising approach, germline-targeting (GT), proposes a series of immunizations: a first shot to activate inexperienced B cells—antibody-producing white blood cells—followed by a sequence of immunogens that are more and more like the HIV Envelope (Env) protein. The ultimate goal of GT immunization is to […]
May 10, 2024 Features
The second installment of the event aimed to create new guidelines for ATIs, including pediatric ATIs In a significant follow-up to the groundbreaking 2018 Consensus Symposium on HIV Analytical Treatment Interruption (ATI) hosted at the Ragon Institute, several faculty members helped organize and participated in the 2024 ATI Consensus Workshop held this week in Nairobi, […]
Apr 29, 2024 Features
Researchers at the Ragon Institute have developed a novel immunization strategy that shows promise for protecting against both group 1 and group 2 influenza A viruses. The strategy, detailed in their recent study, relies on eliciting a single amino acid change in antibodies to generate broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs). Ragon faculty members Daniel Lingwood, PhD, […]
Apr 23, 2024 Features
A collaborative research study led by Ragon Institute faculty member and Early Independence fellow Wilfredo F. Garcia-Beltran, MD, PhD, and Ragon Biosafety Level 3 Core co-director Julie Boucau, PhD, has uncovered a critical mechanism by which SARS-CoV-2 evades one of the body’s key immune responses, providing new insights that could lead to novel treatments. Their […]
Apr 15, 2024 Features
The lab of the Ragon Institute faculty member Hernandez Moura Silva, PhD, recently published a review in Science Immunology regarding resident tissue macrophages (RTMs), shedding light on their multifaceted roles in organ health. RTMs, integral components found abundantly across various organs, have traditionally been recognized for their immune defense functions. However, this review highlights their contributions extend […]
Apr 1, 2024 Features
After three years off due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ragon-MIT course HST.434 returned this January to provide 24 students a once in a lifetime learning experience Education is a crucial element of the Ragon Institute’s global mission, a vital asset in giving the next generation of researchers the tools to combat diseases like HIV, […]
Mar 29, 2024 Features
The team will receive $25 million to work towards treatments for cancer Ragon core member and MIT associate professor of chemical engineering Brandon DeKosky, PhD, was one of five MIT faculty members recently awarded $25 million to take on Cancer Grand Challenges. Cancer Grand Challenges announced five winning teams for 2024, which included DeKosky and […]
Mar 26, 2024 Features
Ragon postdoctoral fellow Matheus Oliveira De Souza volunteers his time to help the next generation of researchers Whether it is a DIY circuit board, a solar-powered robot, or a study of bacterial growth on household surfaces — experiments and science fairs are often the first step taken by budding researchers into the world of science. […]
Mar 20, 2024 Features
Boris Juelg, MD, PhD, and Toong Seng Tan, PhD, each presented papers at the event. Research from other faculty was also represented. Earlier this month, Ragon faculty member Boris Juelg, MD, PhD, spoke at the 2024 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) held in Denver, Colorado from March 3 – March 6. Juelg, pictured […]
Mar 13, 2024
A two-year opportunity in medical science research and career development for underrepresented students About the Program The Catherine Othieno Sempa* Memorial Post Baccalaureate Scholars Program engages talented college graduates from HBCUs and Puerto Rican universities in a comprehensive and immersive two-year program in immunology research. The program is designed to diversify the field of academic […]
Mar 5, 2024 Features
Ragon faculty member Hernandez Moura Silva, PhD, was recently awarded the MIT 2024 Martin Luther King Jr. Leadership Award for faculty. MLK Leadership Awards are given annually to students, alumni, staff, groups, and faculty members who embody the spirit of Dr. King’s work. “Service to the community” is defined in the broadest sense and includes […]