The Aging Brain Initiative Fall 2026 Symposium: Innovation for the Aging Brain

Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
Time: 1:00-6:00pm (Talks: 1:00-5:00pm; Poster Session: 5:00-6:00pm)
Location: Singleton Auditorium (46-3002, Third Floor of MIT Building 46)
Address: 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA 02139
PLEASE NOTE: This event is offered in person only.

Program

12:30-1:00pm	Registration & Coffee	Atrium
1:00-1:10pm	Opening Remarks, Li-Huei Tsai, Director, The Aging Brain Initiative
1:10-1:45pm	Alan Jasanoff, McGovern Institute, MIT Biological Engineering	Molecular MRI Probes for Studying Aging
1:45-2:20pm	Laura Kiessling, MIT Chemistry	Probing Glycans in the Brain
2:20-2:55pm	Oleta Johnson, MIT Chemistry	Timing Is Everything: Chemical Intervention in Protein Aggregation
2:55-3:15pm	Coffee Break	Atrium
3:15-3:50pm	Arvid Gollwitzer, Broad Institute, Adrian Noriega de la Colina, Giovanni Traverso, MIT Mechanical Engineering	Engineering Precision-Prevention: FINGERPRINT - From Multiomics to Foundation Models and the Biology of Intervention Response
3:50-4:25pm	Ritu Raman, MIT Mechanical Engineering	Engineering Functional Neuromuscular Tissues for Disease Modeling and Therapeutic Discovery
4:25-5:00pm	Earl Miller, The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, MIT	How Anesthesia Makes You Unconscious and Why That Matters to an Aging Brain
5:00-5:05pm	Closing Remarks, Rosie Firenze, Scientific Program Director, The Aging Brain Initiative
5:05-6:00pm	Poster Session & Reception	Atrium

Poster Presenters

First Name	Last Name	MIT Lab/Group	Poster Title
Roberta	Fonseca	Tsai Lab, The Picower Institute	Maternal multisensory gamma stimulation rescues fetal brain development in a mouse model of Down syndrome
Francisco	Garcia	Heiman Lab, The Picower Institute	Cell type-specific targeting of the brain vasculature delays progression of neurodegeneration in vivo
Robert G.	Griffin	Griffin Group, Department of Chemistry, FBML	Atomic-Resolution Structure of Monomorphic Aβ1-40 Fibrils
Yuting	Ke	Jasanoff Lab, Department of Biological Engineering	Noninvasive Whole-Brain Functional Imaging of Targeted Cells and Circuits Using Genetically Encoded MRI Probes
Ziying	Ke	Tsai Lab, The Picower Institute	Environmental micro- and nano-plastics induce blood-brain barrier leakage
Daniel	Leible	Boyden Lab, McGovern Institute & Tsai Lab, The Picower Institute	Subcellular mapping of axon-specific vulnerability during early amyloid pathology in Alzheimer's disease
Ashley	Niu	Tsai Lab, The Picower Institute	Gamma sensory stimulation modifies the gut-brain axis to improve gut physiology in aged mice
Ravi	Palani	Griffin Group, Department of Chemistry	Antibody-Dependent Perturbations of Amyloid-β Structure and Dynamics at Atomic Resolution
Savita	Pareek	Profs Rahul Mazumder, Sloan School & Suzzane Flynn, Department of Linguistics	Language in the Aging Brain: Testing Retrogenesis through Complex Sentence Production in aMCI
Francis	Reilly	Bear Lab, The Picower Institute	Tuning metaplasticity in the adult visual cortex using flickering light
Juan	Santoyo	Brown Lab & Tsai Lab, The Picower Institute	Life-Course Stress Shapes Regional Pathology and Behavioral Vulnerability in an Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model
Maeesha	Tasnim Naomi	Tsai Lab, The Picower Institute	Gene Regulatory Logic of Cellular Dynamics in Sensory-evoked Cortical Oscillations
Jiakun	Tian	Xiao Wang Lab, Department of Chemistry	Spatial single-cell transcriptome–translatome co-profiling in aging mouse brain
Manasi	Vaidya	Fluid Interfaces Group, MIT Media Lab	Working Memory’s Relationship with AI Agent Delegation in Older Adults
Cheng-Yi	Yang	Tsai Lab, The Picower Institute	APOE4 attenuates Glymphatic Clearance and alters Neurovascular Coupling

Speakers

Arvid Gollwitzer, Broad Institute
Alan Jasanoff, McGovern Institute, MIT Biological Engineering
Oleta Johnson, MIT Chemistry
Laura Kiessling, MIT Chemistry
Earl K. Miller, MIT Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Adrian Noriega de la Colina, MIT Mechanical Engineering
Ritu Raman, MIT Mechanical Engineering
Giovanni Traverso, MIT Mechanical Engineering

About The Aging Brain Initiative

The Aging Brain Initiative is an interdisciplinary research effort that pulls together faculty expertise, knowledge, and technical resources from across MIT to solve the mysteries of the aging brain. It spans neuroscience, fundamental biology and genetics, investigative medicine, engineering and computer science, economics, chemistry, urban planning, and artificial intelligence to enable a comprehensive systems approach. What's the ultimate mission? To deliver the basic research that makes possible new tools to address the challenges of brain aging and create a better future for millions. Read more here: https://picower.mit.edu/research/aging-brain-initiative

Innovation for the Aging Brain Updated Poster

Host

Li-Huei Tsai

Organizer

Rosalind Firenze, Brittany Greenough