Ragon Institute
Apr 30, 2026 Research Highlights
A new study led by the Shalek Lab at the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard, as well as the Broad Institute, published in Science, shows how a protein called LAT coordinates the many signals that drive T cell activation. The findings reveal that LAT does not switch these signals on separately. Instead, it holds […]
Apr 28, 2026 Features
The Ragon is pleased to welcome Caroline Sokol, MD, PhD, as our newest faculty member. She leads the Sokol Lab as a Member of the Ragon Institute, while also serving as an Assistant Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A physician-scientist specializing in allergy and immunology, […]
Apr 22, 2026 Research Highlights
A small number of people living with HIV are able to durably suppress the virus after stopping antiretroviral therapy, a phenomenon that has long interested researchers searching for a functional cure. A new study from the Gaiha Lab at the Ragon Institute, published in Science Translational Medicine, helps explain why, and points to a specific […]
Apr 20, 2026 Features
A new study from the Dang Lab at the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, has found that the body’s immune system inadvertently protects a dangerous fungus from being destroyed, helping to explain why certain infections linger in the lungs for years and can reactivate with […]
Apr 2, 2026 Awards
The Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard is pleased to announce Jennie Ruelas Castillo, PhD, and Jonathan Padilla Gómez, PhD, as the inaugural recipients of the FEMSA Fellowship at the Ragon Institute. The fellowship supports postdoctoral researchers from Mexico in pursuing immunology research at the Ragon in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The FEMSA Fellowship is […]
Mar 27, 2026 Research Highlights
New findings could help clinicians predict which women will benefit from a breakthrough bacterial therapy for recurrent BV — the most common vaginal condition worldwide CAMBRIDGE, Mass. March 27, 2026 – A new study from the lab of Douglas Kwon, MD, PhD, a core member at the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and […]
Mar 17, 2026 Features
The Ragon Institute is proud to announce the 2026 recipients of the Giammaria and Sabrina Giuliani Faculty Support Fund, an endowed fund dedicated to advancing transformative research at the Institute. This year’s awardees are Amy Barczak, MD, Gaurav Gaiha, MD, DPhil, Douglas Kwon, MD, PhD, and Sophia Liu, PhD, four exceptional scientists whose work is […]
Mar 12, 2026 Features
The Ragon Institute is pleased to welcome Caroline Sokol, MD, PhD, as a new faculty member. Sokol will lead the Sokol Lab as a Member of the Ragon Institute, while also serving as an Assistant Physician at Massachusetts General Hospital and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. A physician-scientist with expertise in […]
Mar 6, 2026 Features
A new study from the Ghebremichael Lab at the Ragon Institute, published in the Biometrical Journal, introduces a statistical method that evaluates biologically linked outcomes jointly rather than relying on separate analyses that ignore their interdependence. The researchers demonstrated their methodology using data from a longitudinal pediatric HIV study examining the efficacy of antiretroviral therapy (ART). […]
Feb 25, 2026 Research Highlights
A new study from the Balazs Lab at the Ragon Institute, published in Immunity, demonstrates that HIV escapes broadly neutralizing antibodies (bNAbs) through a limited set of conserved mutation paths, and that manipulating the cost of those paths can dramatically improve therapeutic outcomes. Broadly neutralizing antibodies are among the most promising tools for treating and […]
Feb 18, 2026 Features
A multi-institutional study published in Science Immunology, led by the Batista Lab at the Ragon Institute, in collaboration with researchers at University of Pennsylvania, Scripps Research Institute, Columbia University, MIT, and others, demonstrates that a single immunization can rapidly generate antibodies capable of neutralizing a broad range of HIV strains, thereby offering a potential path toward simpler HIV […]
Feb 13, 2026 Features
A collaborative study published in Immunity from the Batista Lab and Liu Lab at the Ragon Institute, together with the Schief Lab at Scripps Research Institute, has uncovered a previously unrecognized mechanism that shapes how immune cells are selected during an immune response. When the immune system encounters a pathogen or vaccine, B cells that […]
Feb 2, 2026 Awards
Facundo Batista, PhD, Scientific Director of the Ragon Institute, has been named the 2026 recipient of the AAI-BioLegend Herzenberg Award by the American Association of Immunologists (AAI). The award recognizes investigators who have made outstanding contributions to the field of B cell biology. Established to honor the memory of the late Leonard A. Herzenberg, PhD—a […]
Jan 26, 2026 Features
The Ragon Institute recently welcomed Eric Sun, PhD, a computational biologist whose research sits at the intersection of machine learning and the biology of aging. Joining Ragon from Stanford University, where he completed his PhD, Sun brings a uniquely interdisciplinary approach (spanning chemistry, physics, applied mathematics, and biomedical informatics) to understanding why and how we […]
Jan 20, 2026 Features
Project leverages a collaboration with Portal Bio and other researchers to develop predictive frameworks for improving vaccines and immunotherapies CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – Sophia Liu, PhD, an Early Independence Fellow and Core Faculty Member at the Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard, has been awarded $749,760 through the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC) […]
Dec 23, 2025 Features
A new study from the Ghebremichael Lab at the Ragon Institute, published in the Journal of Applied Statistics, introduces a statistical framework that enables researchers to properly evaluate the diagnostic performance of biomarkers measured repeatedly over time. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves are a standard tool for assessing how well a biomarker distinguishes between patient groups. However, ROC […]
Dec 22, 2025 Features
A new study led by the Shalek Lab at the Ragon Institute, published in Cell, shows that liver cells facing prolonged metabolic stress—like that seen in steatotic liver disease—activate cancer-associated programs long before any tumors appear. Beyond genetic mutations, these early cellular changes may also explain why some patients progress to liver cancer. The team tracked how […]
Dec 17, 2025 Features
A new study from the Batista Lab at the Ragon Institute, published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine, reveals that B cells depend on a cellular cleanup process to successfully transform into the plasma cells that produce protective antibodies. When B cells encounter a pathogen, they must rapidly shift their metabolism, which includes increasing their number of mitochondria. […]
Dec 8, 2025 Features
The Ragon Institute faculty recently expanded with the addition of Eric Dang, PhD, a renowned microbiologist whose work on fungi broadens our research to new areas. Coming to Ragon from the National Institutes of Health (NIH), he is expanding a research program that bridges fundamental immunology with microbial genetics, with a growing focus on how […]