About

The Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard was officially established in February 2009 with a $100 million donation from the Philip T. and Susan M. Ragon Foundation. Our mission is ambitious: To harness the immune system to prevent and cure human disease. Over the past decade, we have created a collaborative institute that combines basic research in human immunology with translational efforts to impact the lives of patients. We utilize cross-disciplinary collaboration in one of the best biomedical research ecosystems on the planet coupled with flexible funding to accelerate progress toward specific goals. The strength of this model is highlighted by our ability to rapidly pivot to address the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning at the moment the first SARS-CoV-2 virus genome was released, and focused on serologic testing to understand the scope of the epidemic, vaccines to prevent infection, and basic immunology studies to understand how the body fights back.

We were established with the single goal of developing an effective vaccine for HIV/AIDS. We built a unique infrastructure that supports cross-disciplinary research across Harvard, MIT, MGH, and other academic teaching hospitals, attracted diverse scientific talent, and supported collaborative research across a spectrum of diseases of global importance. Now, with a promising HIV vaccine in clinical efficacy trials, and a generous endowment provided by Philip T. and Susan M. Ragon Foundation, our mission includes six priority research areas, drawing on the wealth of cross-disciplinary knowledge created by the Institute’s ethos of collaboration and bench-to-bedside approaches.
Our six focus areas are:

  • HIV/AIDS
  • Global Infectious Diseases
  • Emerging Infectious Diseases
  • Vaccine Development
  • Basic and Applied Immunology
  • Clinical Studies

 
Each research area contributes to our goal of understanding the immune system and using that knowledge to prevent and cure disease. Our faculty and collaborators bring expertise from areas such as innate and adaptive immunology, virology, biochemistry, structural biology, physics, engineering, computational biology, vaccinology, as well as physician scientists conducting translational clinical studies of candidate vaccines and immunotherapy. The Ragon Institute brings people together around these six research areas, with the understanding that progress comes not from silos of expertise, but from a vibrant, collaborative community with knowledge building as it flows from field to field, each approach and perspective giving valuable insights to solve global medical problems