IMES community profile: Abigail Jackson
October 1, 2026
Abigail Jackson, HST MEMP PhD student, is focused on understanding the impact of immune pressure on viral evolution, both within patients and on a global scale.
Mindy Blodgett | IMES
Abigail Jackson grew up in Aliso Viejo, CA, studying Computational Neuroscience and Philosophy at the University of Southern California. After graduation, she worked at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA as a research technician in the Ward Lab before making the move, in 2022, to Cambridge to attend HST. Read on to learn more about Abigail.
Why did you choose the HST program?
The clinical component of HST was the main attraction for me. I have always felt at home in interdisciplinary environments (see: my college senior thesis on the philosophy of music and emotion…interdisciplinary is an understatement) and being able to experience clinical medicine during my PhD felt like a natural extension of that ethos. It has certainly not disappointed—the clinical experiences have exceeded my expectations and transformed the lens through which I view my everyday research and my professional future.
What do you wish you’d known, before you became a graduate student?
I wish I knew how much HST emphasized a love of learning. There is a warmth and collaborative spirit that has been such a privilege to experience, and is the opposite of the competitive environment I had always imagined Harvard and MIT to be from afar.
Can you tell us more about your research, and what you hope to accomplish?
My research sits at the intersection of two questions relating to viral evolution for HIV: how does the virus evolve inside a single patient in response to selective pressure from their own immune system and antiretroviral therapy (ART), and how do those same evolutionary principles play out globally in the diversity we see in global transmission? I use deep sequencing data, including the low-frequency "minority variant" signatures that most analyses throw out, to try to predict which patients are heading toward treatment failure or resistance before it happens. This also translates to vaccine work on a global scale. What I ultimately hope to accomplish is work that moves between these scales—using what happens inside one patient to sharpen predictions about the virus at large, and vice versa—so that we can get better at staying a step ahead of a virus that is, quite frankly, very good at outrunning us.
Do you have any hobbies you’d like to tell us about? What do you like to do in your spare time?
I recently got a plot in the Fenway Victory Gardens! I have been spending my evenings and weekends building a garden fence, prepping my garden beds for winter, and dreaming about my vegetable harvest next summer.
What is on your bucket list?
I want to teach my cat to be comfortable on a leash so we can go on outdoor adventures together.
Do you have a favorite poem, or song lyrics?
The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost. Or anything Stevie Nicks has said.
What are some small things that make your day better?
My cat, Charlie. Calling my moms. Coffee.
What is an interesting fact about you?
I play the marimba! If someone has one around Boston that they would let me practice on, let me know.
What do you believe is an underrated invention or technology?
PrEP medication for HIV prophylaxis! I spend my days researching how to fix things once HIV has already taken hold, but the more I do that work, the more I appreciate that the best solution is never having the problem in the first place. PrEP medication can prevent infection entirely. The catch is that over 90% of global PrEP access runs through international funding partnerships, so sustained investment in access and education matters just as much as the science itself. An underrated invention is only as good as our commitment to actually getting it to people.