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2025 Virology Retreat

Welcome

Headshot of Aaron Schmidt

 

What an exciting time to study virology! Here at Harvard University, Harvard Medical School, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and affiliated hospitals, our virology community is at the forefront of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: from advancing vaccine candidates for human clinical trials and pioneering diagnostic and surveillance efforts to conducting basic research in SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis. This work continues our community’s long history of virology research. We have made, and continue to make, seminal contributions to basic research elucidating new structures of viruses, viral glycoproteins, and virus-encoded enzymes, characterizing viral trafficking within cells, and mechanisms that control cell growth. We are among the world leaders in the design and testing of HIV, genital herpes, and influenza vaccines. Learn more about our Program...

Virology Spotlight

Stopping Cervical Cancer Before It Starts

A researcher focused on developing therapeutic vaccines for the human papillomavirus (HPV), Alton Gayton will graduate from the Harvard Kenneth C. Griffin Graduate School of Arts and Sciences in May 2026 with a PhD in virology. He discusses his pioneering...
Person working at a lab bench

Tour the Veritas Science Center with Jessica Chen

Fifth-year PhD student Jessica Chen shows us around the newly renamed Veritas Science Center on the Harvard Medical School campus. See the video here . There are about 90 labs and 1,000 researchers in the VSC, including researchers from HMS affiliate...
A young scientist gestures towards her lab bench.

I'm Worried About the Future of Virology

The federal government has terminated numerous federally funded grants and contracts to Harvard and is scaling back investments in scientific and medical research across the country. In this series, Harvard Medical School scientists discuss how these...
Grant Yang