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In recognition of World AIDS Day, we are sharing some recent work from the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and Harvard, which was established in 2009 with a dual mission to contribute to the accelerated discovery of an HIV/AIDS vaccine and to serve as a world leader in the collaborative study of immunology.

Researchers at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital, MIT and Harvard recently published an editorial in Science Immunology detailing their efforts to combine basic science and social good to reduce the high rate of HIV infection in young South African women while simultaneously empowering them. Here is a brief summary.

Clostridium perfringens is a common foodborne illness ‎that causes nearly 1 million infections each year. The bacterium has many environmental sources, but is typically found on raw meat and poultry.

If you’ve ever spent time in a beauty salon, you know that hair stylists give their clients more than just a new cut, color or style. They often serve as friends and confidants, dispensing advice on relationships, family and work challenges. But could they also help to prevent unwanted pregnancies and stop the spread of a deadly disease?

In the battle between bacteria and humans, the best defense may be a good offense.

A new research study from Rudolph Tanzi, PhD, and Robert Moir, PhD, researchers in the Department of Neurology at Massachusetts General Hospital, has uncovered a Jekyll and Hyde role for a naturally occurring protein in the brain most commonly associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). In conjunction with new findings from another research team at Icahn School ofRead more

Dennis Jones, PhD Dennis Jones, PhD, is a postdoctoral fellow in the Edwin L. Steele Labs at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Jones won an award for a poster detailing the results of a research study that shows how MRSA infections contribute to recurrences of lymphedema by damaging muscle cells with bacterial toxins. Continue reading toRead more

Michael Mansour, MD, PhD At first glance, Candida auris (C. auris) seems like the fungus equivalent of a comic book supervillain—at least from a human perspective. A new species of infectious fungus that arrived seemingly out of nowhere a decade ago, C. auris is resistant to all known forms of antifungal drugs, and it sticks to surfaces so wellRead more

Erica Shenoy, MD, PhD For patients in hospital and healthcare settings, a Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection is a complication that can result in serious complications and even death. C. difficile is caused by a bacterium and the symptoms of infection include diarrhea, fever and severe abdominal cramps. While some cases may be mild, some can beRead more

45654786 – close up 3d illustration of microscopic cholera bacteria infection Researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital, Duke University and the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research in Dhaka, Bangladesh, have used machine learning algorithms to find patterns within communities of bacteria living in the human gut. These patterns could indicate who among the approximately oneRead more