NEWS

Ragon Institute Associate Director Facundo Batista and MIT Professor Richard Young create new MIT Biology public access COVID-19 course.   Image courtesy of MIT Biology and NIAID/Wikimedia Commons   With COVID-19 sweeping the nation and the world, biomedical science simultaneously paused and accelerated in unprecedented ways. Many labs were required to shut down during the […]

Researchers from the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard and the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania developed a new Dual CAR T cell immunotherapy that combats HIV infection in humanized mice. Image: HIV infecting a human cell, courtesy of NIH Image library A recent study published in the journal Nature […]

Single VH Gene Allows for Broad-Spectrum Antibody Response to LPS   Image: Immunoglobulin heavy chain variable domain, VH   Daniel Lingwood, PhD, Ragon Group Leader, recently published a paper in Cell Reports entitled, “A single human VH gene allows for a broad-spectrum antibody response targeting 2 bacterial lipopolysaccharides in the blood.” This paper, whose lead […]

Ragon Institute researchers show elite controllers have HIV viral reservoirs in gene deserts which may help prevent viral rebound and contribute to natural control of HIV.   

Image: Germinal centers in a lymph node, courtesy of Shiv Pillai Lack of germinal centers in COVID-19 immune response may prevent patients from developing long-lasting immunity to the SARS-CoV-2 virus Shiv Pillai, MD, Ph.D, Member of the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard and professor at Harvard Medical School, recently published a paper in […]

Results of partnership between the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard and UW Medicine identify five markers of the humoral immune response that may be able to predict COVID-19 patient outcomes.   A recent study published in Immunity identifies five immune response markers which, collectively, were able to correctly classify both convalescent COVID-19 patients […]

by: Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center   Findings lay groundwork for clinical development program     Boston, Mass. – The development of a safe and effective vaccine will likely be required to end the COVID-19 pandemic. A group of scientists, led by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) immunologist Dan H. Barouch, MD, PhD, now report […]

Image: Immune cells in malaria patient. Credit: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, NIH   Researchers at the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, in collaboration with the global health non-profit PATH and pharmaceutical company GSK, have discovered two markers of immunity in response to the RTS,S/ASO1 malaria vaccine that correlated strongly with […]

We want to express our deep sadness over the recent and violent deaths of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor in the US—three of the latest victims of the systemic racism that continues to plague our society. The last week has brought into crisp focus the deep racism that remains pervasive throughout our country, […]

To understand how any given disease affects the body, scientists need a wide array of tools. One of the most valuable and indispensable instruments in their toolkit are clinical samples—small amounts of blood, urine, mucus, spit, and tissue that can be used to study a disease in a patient.  For COVID-19, a disease that has an […]

As part of its COVID-19 response, the Ragon Institute is working within the Massachusetts Consortium for Pathogen Readiness, a multi-institutional initiative convened by Harvard Medical School and the Ragon Institute, to combat the disease and to prepare for future outbreaks. Ragon Institute director, Bruce Walker, MD, serves as co-director and founding member, and many of […]

Image: Scanning electron microscope image of SARS-CoV-2 virus emerging from cells. Image courtesy of NIAID   Cambridge, MA, April 22, 2020: The Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, a world leader in human immunology and infectious diseases, is leading efforts to understand and combat the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of the global COVID-19 pandemic. […]

Boston, March 30, 2020 – The Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard today announced it has received a gift from Nancy Zimmerman to help fund development of an early response coronavirus (COVID-19) diagnostic that would support medical and other front-line professionals and help manage the current pandemic. Specifically, the funding from Ms. Zimmerman, who […]

Alex Shalek, Ragon associate member, has a new study published today in Nature Medicine, Integrated Single-Cell Analysis of Multicellular Immune Dynamics during Hyper-Acute HIV-1 Infection. This study uses single-cell RNA sequencing to understand immune system dynamics after acute HIV infection, with samples provided from the FRESH (Females Rising through Education, Support, and Health) study in […]

The Ragon Institute, with its commitment to interdisciplinary collaboration and patient-focused research, has begun a multipronged approach towards understanding, treating, and preventing infections with the new human coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Ragon Institute scientists are playing  a leadership role in mobilizing an unprecedented Boston-Cambridge consortium dedicated to collaborative efforts to ending the growing pandemic, bringing together Harvard, […]