Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute
Encyclopedia
Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute is a medical institute
to be created at the Massachusetts General Hospital
by the funding from founder and CEO of InterSystems
Phillip Ragon
and his wife Susan Ragon to find vaccine
for diseases of the immune system
, particularly AIDS
. The institute hopes to bring in scientists from Harvard University
, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
(MIT) and the Massachusetts General Hospital
(MGH), a level I trauma center which is the largest teaching hospital affiliated with the Harvard University Medical School.
The Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute was officially established in February 2009 at MGH, MIT and Harvard with a dual mission: to contribute to the accelerated discovery of an HIV/AIDS vaccine and subsequently to establish itself as a world leader in the collaborative study of immunology. Founded with a commitment of $100 million from the Ragons, the institute is structured and positioned to significantly contribute to a global effort to successfully develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine through:
The Ragon Institute’s scientific leadership comprises a diverse group of world class immunologists, geneticists, infectious disease specialists and computational and systems biologists from the MGH, MIT, Harvard, the Broad Institute, Harvard-affiliated hospitals in Boston and from other leading institutions housing satellite collaborators around the country. The fusion of expertise represented in this partnership is unique in the HIV/AIDS research effort. Collectively and individually it is expected to bring out the best in each institution's and each investigator’s research.
The Institute will be housed initially within the MGH. Once fully established, it is expected to occupy its own building and function as a catalyst for collaboration across these institutions. From the outset the Ragon Institute will create a singular opportunity and environment to engage scientists, engineers and clinicians in challenging research for which there may be no greater benefit – saving lives and curing the ill.
Institute
An institute is a permanent organizational body created for a certain purpose. Often it is a research organization created to do research on specific topics...
to be created at the Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
by the funding from founder and CEO of InterSystems
InterSystems
InterSystems Corporation is a privately held vendor of software for high-performance database management, rapid application development, integration, and healthcare information systems...
Phillip Ragon
Phillip Ragon
Phillip Terrence "Terry" Ragon is an American entrepreneur and philanthropist who founded InterSystems and is its current CEO. He pledged to donate US $100 million over 10 years period for AIDS research through the Phillip T. and Susan M...
and his wife Susan Ragon to find vaccine
Vaccine
A vaccine is a biological preparation that improves immunity to a particular disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism, and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe or its toxins...
for diseases of the immune system
Immune system
An immune system is a system of biological structures and processes within an organism that protects against disease by identifying and killing pathogens and tumor cells. It detects a wide variety of agents, from viruses to parasitic worms, and needs to distinguish them from the organism's own...
, particularly AIDS
AIDS
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome or acquired immunodeficiency syndrome is a disease of the human immune system caused by the human immunodeficiency virus...
. The institute hopes to bring in scientists from Harvard University
Harvard University
Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
(MIT) and the Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital is a teaching hospital and biomedical research facility in the West End neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts...
(MGH), a level I trauma center which is the largest teaching hospital affiliated with the Harvard University Medical School.
The Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Institute was officially established in February 2009 at MGH, MIT and Harvard with a dual mission: to contribute to the accelerated discovery of an HIV/AIDS vaccine and subsequently to establish itself as a world leader in the collaborative study of immunology. Founded with a commitment of $100 million from the Ragons, the institute is structured and positioned to significantly contribute to a global effort to successfully develop an HIV/AIDS vaccine through:
- creating non-traditional partnerships among experts with different but complementary backgrounds (e.g., engineers, basic immunologists, computational biologists, immunogeneticists, clinicians);
- providing a means for rapidly funding promising studies (e.g., elite controllers, innovative viral vectors) and emerging concepts in the field (e.g., innate immune system memory);
- integrating key facets of current vaccine development efforts that have tended to follow separate tracks (e.g., seeking a combined antibody and T-cell solution);
- providing a substantial pool of accessible, flexible funding that will help lower the threshold for scientists to pursue risky, unconventional avenues of study that are unlikely to attract funding from traditional sources. Such funding will encourage innovation, compress the time it takes to conduct bench-to-bedside research and attract new minds to the field.
The Ragon Institute’s scientific leadership comprises a diverse group of world class immunologists, geneticists, infectious disease specialists and computational and systems biologists from the MGH, MIT, Harvard, the Broad Institute, Harvard-affiliated hospitals in Boston and from other leading institutions housing satellite collaborators around the country. The fusion of expertise represented in this partnership is unique in the HIV/AIDS research effort. Collectively and individually it is expected to bring out the best in each institution's and each investigator’s research.
The Institute will be housed initially within the MGH. Once fully established, it is expected to occupy its own building and function as a catalyst for collaboration across these institutions. From the outset the Ragon Institute will create a singular opportunity and environment to engage scientists, engineers and clinicians in challenging research for which there may be no greater benefit – saving lives and curing the ill.