Shanshan Zhang and Rosie Firenze stand before a Massachusetts Life Sciences Center backdrop holding and award certificate
July 29, 2026
With Mass. Women’s Health Award, team will study how Alzheimer’s risk varies with hormone replacement
Emery Brown sits behind his desk in his MIT office. A teddy bear rests nestled among some books on a shelf behind him, just over his right shoulder.
July 20, 2026
MIT names Emery N. Brown an "Institute Professor," its highest faculty honor
A portrait of Susumu Tonegawa in front of a gray background
July 15, 2026
Picower Professor Susumu Tonegawa, renowned molecular biologist and Nobel laureate, dies at 86
A closeup of a piece of paper displaying many squiggly lines of brainwaves
July 7, 2026
Electric fields help guide neural activity, even from moment to moment
Myriam Heiman stands along the blue glassy windows of the Reading Terrace in MIT's Building 46
May 26, 2026
Myriam Heiman named the director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

Morgan Sheng among 12 with MIT ties elected to the National Academy of Medicine for 2023

October 10, 2023
Picower People
Five MIT faculty, along with seven additional affiliates, are honored for outstanding contributions to medical research.

Decoding the complexity of Alzheimer’s disease

September 28, 2023
Research Findings
By analyzing epigenomic and gene expression changes that occur in Alzheimer’s disease, researchers identify cellular pathways that could become new drug targets

Resolving a seeming contradiction, study advances understanding of visual recognition memory

September 27, 2023
Research Findings
Scientists have invested decades in piecing together how our vision is so good at recognizing what’s familiar. A new study overcomes an apparent discrepancy in data to reveal a new insight into how it works.

Study shows how a single neuron’s parallel outputs can coordinate many aspects of behavior

September 27, 2023
Research Findings
In C. elegans worms, a single neuron named HSN uses multiple chemicals and connections to orchestrate egg-laying and locomotion over the course of several minutes

Individual neurons mix multiple RNA edits of key synapse protein, fly study finds

September 18, 2023
Research Findings
Neurons stochastically generated up to eight different versions of a protein regulating neurotransmitter release, which could vary how they communicate with other cells

Study decodes surprising approach mice take in learning

September 14, 2023
Research Findings
Neurotypical humans readily optimize performance in ‘reversal learning’ games, but while mice learn the winning strategy, they refuse to commit to it, a new study shows. The research provides a mathematical way to track the rodents’ more mixed tactics

The Sleeping Brain

September 14, 2023
Neural activity during sleep has a signature structure that the brain uses to make profound improvements in our thinking and wellness

Molecule reduces inflammation in Alzheimer’s models

August 29, 2023
Research Findings
A potential new Alzheimer’s drug represses the harmful inflammatory response of the brain’s immune cells, reducing disease pathology, preserving neurons and improving cognition in preclinical tests

Study connects neural gene expression differences to functional distinctions

August 23, 2023
Research Findings
Researchers compared a pair of superficially similar motor neurons in fruit flies to examine how their differing use of the same genome produced distinctions in form and function

Cracking the code that relates brain and behavior in a simple animal

August 21, 2023
Research Findings
MIT researchers model and map how neurons across the tiny brain of a C. elegans worm encode its behaviors, revealing many new insights about the robustness and flexibility of its nervous system

Summer research opportunity can be a springboard to advanced studies

August 3, 2023
Picower People
The paths three graduate students forged to the same Picower Institute lab illustrate the value of participating in the MIT Summer Research Program in Biology and Neuroscience.

Study finds tracking brain waves could reduce post-op complications

July 17, 2023
Research Findings
Distinctive EEG patterns indicate when a patient’s state of unconsciousness under general anesthesia is more profound than necessary.