Dr. Facundo Batista is a distinguished leader in immunological research whose work has fundamentally advanced our understanding of B cell biology and vaccine development. He currently serves as the first Associate Director and Scientific Director of the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard, a position he has held since joining in 2016, holding the Phillip and Susan Ragon Professorship in MIT's Department of Biology while holding a Senior Lecturer on Immunology position at Massachusetts General Hospital, affiliated with the Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT, and Harvard. After earning his BSc from the University of Buenos Aires in 1991 and his PhD from the International School of Advanced Studies in 1995, he conducted pivotal postdoctoral research at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge from 1996 to 2002. His transition to an independent research career was marked by early recognition including the EMBO Young Investigator Award, establishing him as a rising star in immunology before his strategic move to the United States in 2016 to lead transformative vaccine research at the Ragon Institute.
Dr. Batista has made groundbreaking contributions to understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of B cell activation, revealing how the cortical cytoskeleton network regulates receptor signaling and how actin regulators such as Cdc42 play critical roles in antibody production. His laboratory pioneered advanced in vivo imaging techniques that identified how macrophages ferry antigens to B cells in lymph nodes and how these processes impact responses to secondary infections. Most significantly, his team revolutionized preclinical vaccine testing by developing CRISPR/Cas9-engineered humanized mouse models that reduced development timelines from years to weeks, enabling rapid evaluation of vaccine candidates for challenging pathogens including HIV, malaria, and SARS-CoV-2. These innovations have provided crucial insights into vaccination strategies for traditionally intractable diseases and established new paradigms for studying humoral immunity.
Beyond his research discoveries, Dr. Batista has profoundly shaped the field through strategic leadership and collaborative initiatives that bridge fundamental immunology with practical vaccine development. As Scientific Director of the Ragon Institute, he oversees a vibrant interdisciplinary research ecosystem that brings together immunologists, engineers, and clinicians to tackle urgent global health challenges. His current NIH-funded research focuses on defining functional humoral correlates of immunity to guide rational vaccine design and accelerating malaria vaccine development through custom preclinical models. With the completion of the new Ragon Institute building in 2024, designed with his insights about collaborative research environments, Dr. Batista continues to drive the next generation of vaccine science while mentoring emerging scientists who carry forward his legacy of translating basic immunological principles into life-saving therapeutics.
