Category Archives: research

Understanding why some strains of HIV may be more infectious than others may provide critical clues to developing an HIV vaccine that effectively blocks HIV transmission.   A study in the journal PLoS Pathogens, led by researchers at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard have decoded new information about the genetic makeup of […]

Debunking the perplexingly advanced, cutting-edge technologies used by researchers at the Ragon Institute Imaging Core in pursuit of an HIV/AIDS vaccine.   There is perhaps no better analogy for the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard’s Imaging Core than a tricked-out, time-traveling 1985 DeLorean sports car.   Yes, you read that correctly.   Much like Marty […]

Previously undetected mutation in a subline of C57BL/6 mice could compromise results of many previous studies   BOSTON – A strain of inbred mice commonly used for the creation of so-called knockout animals has been found to carry a previously undetected mutation that could affect the results of immune system research studies. In paper receiving […]

A sub-Saharan African donor’s blood has yielded remarkable finds that could be crucial in the search for an AIDS vaccine. An infected donor’s immune system naturally made potent antibodies, which lab tests showed could effectively recognize and neutralize about 50 percent of all HIV-1 strains circulating around the world. HIV-1 is the most widespread HIV […]

A new paper represents the first characterization of the human virome in HIV infection was published in the March 9 issue of the scientific journal Cell Host & Microbe.  This paper is a collaboration between the Ragon Institute Kwon Lab in collaboration with the Virgin Lab at the Washington University School of Medicine at St. […]

Researchers from the Kwon Lab at the Ragon Institute have published findings which indicate that HIV acquisition is up to 3.5 times higher in South African women using injectable progestin-only contraceptives (IPCs). IPCs are the most common form of contraception used in sub-Saharan Africa and are common in some areas of high HIV incidence.   […]

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J., – July, 2, 2015 – Johnson & Johnson (NYSE: JNJ) announced Thursday that scientists at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), Crucell Holland B.V, one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson (Janssen), and several other collaborators today published results from a preclinical study of an HIV vaccine regimen used […]

Investigators from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard have added another piece to the puzzle of how a small group of individuals known as elite controllers are able to control HIV infection without drug treatment. In their paper published in the open-access journal PLOS Pathogens, the research team […]

Most common bacterial community in healthy South African women may increase presence of T cells targeted by HIV   A team led by researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard has found that the most common bacterial community in the genital tract among healthy South Africa women […]

Scientists from the Ragon Institute participate in the development of a novel technology to facilitate the study of immune responses at the single cell level.   BOSTON – In a manuscript published this month in Nature Communications, a group of scientists from the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard and the CHUM Research Center […]