Ragon Institute, 600 Main Street, Cambridge, MA (2025)

11/25/2025

We are proud to share that the Ragon Institute's building at 600 Main Street has been recognized with a 2025 Architectural Record Award (Honorable Mention).

Designed by our partners at Payette, the 323,000-square-foot facility in Kendall Square has been our new home for over a year and was created to foster collaboration, support cutting-edge infectious disease research, and provide welcoming, accessible spaces for our community.

Architectural Record is a leading US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. At over 130 years in print, it is widely recognized as a key record of evolving debates in architectural practice, history, and criticism, showcasing noteworthy projects from around the world.

Read more about the award and design: https://payette.com/designalways/the-ragon-institute-honored-with-2025-architectural-record-award/

11/19/2025

On November 12, the Ragon Institute welcomed signatories of the Gates–Buffett Giving Pledge for a learning session on how philanthropy can accelerate discovery in immunology and global health. This short video, created for the event, offers an overview of our work and the impact of partnering with visionary donors to advance bold scientific ideas.

The Ragon Institute brings together scientists and clinicians from Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard to study the immune system and turn breakthroughs into new vaccines, diagnostics, and treatments for diseases that affect people around the world. By uniting cutting-edge research with a deep commitment to global health equity, we aim to prevent and cure human disease and improve lives far beyond our walls.

Learn more about the Ragon Institute at ragoninstitute.org

11/13/2025

The Ragon community is as active beyond the lab as it is within it!

Three members of the Gaiha Lab—faculty member Gaurav Gaiha, MD, DPhil, postdoctoral fellow Matt Getz, and Harvard Virology PhD student Alton Gayton—ran the BAA Half Marathon last weekend.

Gaiha and Gayton also completed the full BAA Distance Medley, a year-long series including the 5K, 10K, and Half Marathon. Both finished in the top ten for their age groups, with Gayton taking an impressive second place in his age group.

We’re proud to celebrate their dedication, teamwork, and the spirit of the Ragon community both inside and outside the lab.

11/11/2025

At the recent 2025 Warren Alpert Foundation Prize Symposium, Ragon Institute founding director Bruce Walker, MD, joined leading scientists as a speaker at the event to honor groundbreaking advances in HIV treatment and prevention. The symposium recognized Tomas Cihlar, John Link, and Wesley Sundquist for their pioneering work on lenacapavir and the next chapter in HIV research.

Dr. Walker also led a special conversation with Bill Gates, Chair of the Gates Foundation, discussing the global fight against HIV and the future of equitable access to prevention and care. Collaboration and scientific innovation continue to move us closer to ending the HIV epidemic.

Watch Dr. Walker's full conversation with Gates here: https://youtu.be/wjgzsXAlzFA?si=oCB24MTGdaFFhM5z

(Photos by Gretchen Ertl Photography)

11/07/2025

A new study led by the Bryson Lab at the Ragon Institute and published in Science Translational Medicine lays out a practical roadmap for making better tuberculosis (TB) vaccines by starting from what infected human immune cells actually show to CD4 T cells. Bryan Bryson, PhD, a core member of the Ragon Institute and an associate professor of biological engineering at MIT, was one of the authors.

Put together, the study gives TB researchers two key things: a set of TB antigens that human cells are known to actually present and that are common across many TB strains, and a proven mRNA method to make human cells present them well. That directly addresses one of the current bottlenecks in building a better TB vaccine and reflects significant progress in fighting the disease.

Read more: https://ragoninstitute.org/2025/11/bryson-lab-study-defines-tb-vaccine-targets-directly-from-infected-human-cells-and-shows-how-to-deliver-them-with-mrna/

11/04/2025

Triet Doan is a research technician in the Barczak Lab at the Ragon Institute, where he studies Mycobacterium tuberculosis. His research focuses on the host-pathogen interface, exploring how immune cells—specifically macrophages—fight back against tuberculosis infection. For Triet, research isn’t just about science—it’s about visual storytelling. The microscopy images he carefully crafts don’t just reveal cellular interactions; to him, they are “not just data, but works of art.”

Triet’s passion for infectious disease research is fueled by a larger goal: to become a physician-researcher—someone who not only advances scientific discoveries but also applies them directly to patient care.

Outside the lab, Triet was a former Broadway show choir member, and now is part of the Ragon choir while also teaching himself acoustic guitar. He loves all kinds of music, from slow R&B to hip-hop rap, and is always keeping up with interesting new releases!

Triet radiates positivity. Raised to value empathy and human connection, he puts this into practice as a volunteer for Samaritans’ national lifeline, providing a compassionate ear to those in need.

"That’s something I practice every day—just listening to people. Everyone has a story, and sometimes they just need someone to validate them and help them realize what’s going on."

With his compassion, resilience, and drive, there’s no doubt that Triet is on his way to making a profound impact—both in science and in the lives of others.

10/30/2025

A large international study, published in Nature Microbiology and led by the Kwon Lab at the Ragon Institute and the Xavier Lab at the Broad Institute, shows that HIV infection and common antiretroviral drugs change the gut microbiome in distinct, geography-dependent ways.

These changes notably may help explain ongoing inflammation and heart-disease risk in people living with HIV. The team analyzed whole-metagenome data from 327 people with HIV and 260 controls in Uganda, Botswana, and the United States.

Read more: https://ragoninstitute.org/2025/10/kwon-and-xavier-labs-map-how-hiv-and-antiretroviral-treatment-alter-the-gut-microbiome-across-continents/

10/28/2025

A new study co-led by the Batista Lab at the Ragon Institute and Scripps/IAVI shows that a single mRNA-based vaccine mix can jump-start the early steps toward several promising HIV-fighting antibodies at the same time. Because HIV is extremely diverse, a successful vaccine would likely need to train the immune system along multiple routes, not just one.

The team tested “germline-targeting” mRNA vaccine ingredients which are molecules designed to wake up the rare B cells that can later mature into broadly neutralizing antibodies. In mouse models built to mimic how rare these cells are in people, the mRNA mix activated starting cells for four well-studied HIV antibody targets on the virus’s Envelope protein.

Read more: https://ragoninstitute.org/2025/10/ragon-scripps-collaboration-shows-single-mrna-shot-can-start-several-hiv-blocking-antibody-paths-at-once/

10/23/2025

A new JCI Insight study led by the POSITIVES team and the Barczak Lab at the Ragon Institute followed people with mild COVID-19 to see whether newer Omicron subvariants behave differently over time. Despite ongoing viral evolution, the team found core features—how much viral nucleic acid is found in the nose and how long people shed live virus—were broadly similar across the BA.1x, BA.2x, BA.4/5x, XBB.x, and JN.x subvariants.

Together, these results show that while Omicron continues to diversify, the basic virologic timeline for mild infections has remained steady—and that symptom-only rules can miss periods when some people are still shedding live virus particles.

Read More: https://ragoninstitute.org/2025/10/barczak-lab-leads-study-showing-omicron-subvariants-shed-virus-for-similar-periods-and-symptoms-alone-do-not-signal-safety/

10/21/2025

We’re proud to share that our Scientific Director, Facundo Batista, PhD, has been elected to the National Academy of Medicine—one of the highest honors in health and medicine. The Academy recognized Batista for pioneering work that has transformed our understanding of antibody-producing B cells and how the immune system responds to infectious diseases.

His lab’s discoveries have advanced pre-clinical vaccine development for globally important diseases and contributed to a best-in-class monoclonal antibody to prevent malaria.

Congratulations Dr. Batista!

10/16/2025

Operated by Bright Horizons, the Ragon Child Care Center offers early childhood education and care right at the heart of our community. With programs tailored for infants, toddlers, and preschool-aged children, this center aims to support our employees’ work-life balance by providing a convenient and high-quality child care solution.

This initiative is a testament to our commitment to supporting our employees’ diverse needs and fostering a supportive, inclusive environment.

Five additional spots are also reserved for neighbors of the Ragon from the Cambridge Housing Authority residents.

10/14/2025

The Garcia-Beltran Lab at the Ragon Institute, led by Wilfredo Garcia-Beltran, MD, PhD, has received a National Institutes of Health (NIH) High-Risk, High-Reward Research (HRHR) Program award to propel a new project that retools natural killer (NK) cells to better locate, enter, and destroy solid tumors.

The HRHR program, part of the NIH Common Fund, backs unusually bold, creative ideas with the potential for broad impact across biomedicine.

Read more: https://ragoninstitute.org/2025/10/garcia-beltran-lab-awarded-nih-high-risk-high-reward-award-to-engineer-nk-cell-therapies-for-solid-tumors/

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