Ragon Institute
Jun 3, 2022
Ragon member Gaurav Gaiha is a physician and scientist, Indian and American As the son of Indian immigrants, Gaurav Gaiha, MD, DPhil, describes himself as wearing two hats. He was born in the U.S. and grew up in Lake Forest, Illinois, outside of Chicago, which resulted in “a dual identity … at one moment you’re […]
Jun 3, 2022
Research technician Agnes Cheng started a new job during the pandemic—and experienced her Asian identity in a different way amid a troubling rise in violence Graduating from college can be an uncertain and confusing time in any circumstances, but it was especially the case for Agnes Cheng, a research technician in Aaron Schmidt’s lab who […]
Jun 1, 2022
Research technician Liza Vecchiarello seeks knowledge in her personal and professional life Liza Vecchiarello, a research technician in Bruce Walker’s lab, would often get high fevers as a child. It remained a medical mystery until she doubled over in pain during recess in the third grade and was rushed to the hospital. There, doctors discovered […]
May 20, 2022
How does the immune system remember and recognize viral invaders it has encountered in the past? A trio of newly published studies of people infected with SARS-CoV-2, vaccinated against the virus or both, are providing tantalizing new clues about the factors that influence the speed and magnitude of the immune system’s response to subsequent infection […]
May 17, 2022
Researchers including Galit Alter, Boris Juelg, and Alex Shalek have just been awarded a five-year, over $12 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ Human Immunology Project Consortium (HIPC) to study the immunology of pregnancy. This is the first time in the grant’s 12-year history that a project on immunology of […]
May 3, 2022 Ragon Culture
Last Saturday, April 30, was the eighth week of this year’s PRISM Science Club. High school students learned about the importance of diagnostic tools and used gel electrophoresis kits from miniPCR bio to test for a fictional virus. Ragon Institute Director Dr. Bruce Walker also gave a surprise visit and talk! This marks the final […]
Apr 27, 2022
Image from Immunity, courtesy of Elsevier BOSTON – More than 1.7 billion people—or a quarter of the world’s population—are infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacterial strain that causes tuberculosis (TB). For years, scientists have been working to develop an effective vaccine, but current TB vaccines are only partially protective. New research by a team including investigators at […]
Apr 15, 2022
When world-record holding marathoner Susan Ragon hit a bump in the road, she looked to Massachusetts General Hospital. In turn, her generosity and tenacity has inspired others in the Mass General community to lace up and join “Team Susan.” Read about Susan Ragon’s passion for running and how she inspired her care team at Mass […]
Apr 11, 2022
BOSTON – Since the first reports of HIV infection in the early 1980s, multiple clinical trials have tested potential vaccines against the virus, but unfortunately, HIV has numerous defense mechanisms that prevent a person’s immune system from mounting an effective response following HIV vaccination. An alternative anti-HIV strategy called vectored immunoprophylaxis (VIP) designed by researchers at […]
Apr 6, 2022
Galit Alter, PhD, a Core Member of the Ragon Institute, Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Co-Director of the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research, is an immunologist and virologist who has never been one to back down from a challenge. As an undergraduate at McGill University, Alter chose microbiology immunology from her […]
Apr 4, 2022
Executive Director Kristen Massimine worked as a theatrical lighting designer throughout her formative years. Now, she uses a theater analogy to describe the importance of administration and operations at the Ragon Institute. “The audience comes to a play to see the actors,” she says, “but the actors need to be illuminated to support the story; […]
Mar 30, 2022
Administrative Director for Research Marina Boyarina is the woman behind all the Ragon Institute’s research. It’s just that she doesn’t wear a white coat. There are currently 26 individuals with labs onsite at the Ragon, and just about all of these labs are funded by grants Boyarina and her staff of four oversee from initial […]
Mar 25, 2022
Dr. Alison Ringel didn’t set out to exclusively choose female mentors when she started out in scientific research, but by following her research interests, that’s what happened. “I have been mentored by what I call a dream team of women faculty,” she says. Ringel joined the Ragon in January 2022 as one of three faculty […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]