Ragon Institute

Meet Katie Billington, the Ragon's receptionist, self-proclaimed personal shopper for Institute events and activities, and the driving force behind 'Novel Thoughts,' our beloved community book club.

As the friendly face of the front desk and a direct support to the executive office, Katie keeps things running smoothly at the Ragon Institute. A people person through and through, Katie loves when colleagues stop by just to chat, has built a genuine bond with the security team who accompany her at the front desk, and may or may not spend her quieter moments people-watching Kendall Square out the window.

Katie joined the Ragon right as we moved into our current home, spending her very first days in a nearly empty 400 Tech Square before joining the rest of us in our new space. It was there that she spotted a dusty old book club shelf and thought...after spending all day doing science, why not unwind with a book about anything BUT science?? About six months in, she launched the Novel Thoughts Book Club with a simple but meaningful goal: to make reading fun again. Her favorite thing about running book club is when everyone shows up buzzing with things to say about our latest read. Outside of work, Katie is an avid reader (naturally), a jack-of-all-trades crafter, loves anything artsy, and cherishes time with her favorite little feline, Ori.

We are so lucky to have Katie's warmth and energy be the first thing our guests are greeted with when they come by the Institute!

Harikesh Wong has been named to the 2026 class of the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences, one of 21 early-career scientists selected this year.

A core member of the Ragon Institute and an assistant professor of biology at MIT, Wong studies how the immune system decides when to act, investigating how groups of immune cells reach a "communal decision" about whether to tolerate or attack a given target.

The four-year Pew award will support that work as his lab explores how small shifts in immune control can lead to outcomes as different as clearing a threat, tolerance, autoimmunity, and cancer.

Read More: https://ragoninstitute.org/2026/06/wong-named-2026-pew-scholar-in-the-biomedical-sciences/