The medical school will welcome聽Facundo Batista, PhD, in May as the featured speaker for Seminars in Investigative Medicine.聽
Dr. Batista鈥檚 presentation, 鈥淚nforming vaccine design by defining the rules of antibody responses,鈥澛爄s scheduled for noon to 1 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, in TBL聽2聽at the W.E. Upjohn M.D. Campus in downtown Kalamazoo. A pizza lunch from聽Jet鈥檚聽will be provided for attendees.聽
If you plan to attend, please聽.聽Individuals who RSVP will be admitted before those without a reservation.聽聽
Dr. Batista is associate director and scientific director of the Ragon Institute of Mass General, MIT, and Harvard, and the Phillip T. and Susan M. Ragon Professor of Biology at MIT.聽聽He earned his Master of Science degree in biology in聽1993,聽and he received his PhD in biology in 1995 from the International School of Advanced Studies in Trieste, Italy. He did postdoctoral work from 1996 to 2002 at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, England.聽
Currently, Dr. Batista鈥檚 lab at the Ragon Institute studies the fundamental biology of the immune system to develop the next generation of vaccines and therapeutics. The lab鈥檚 targets include HIV, malaria, influenza, and SARS-CoV-2, with an approach focusing on B cells. The Batista lab investigates how, where, and when B cells are activated, with the goal of rationalizing the development of vaccines.聽聽聽
Seminars in Investigative Medicine is a research seminar series at聽91探花聽aimed at bringing together the community of investigators both within 鈥 and outside 鈥 the medical school.