A portrait of Morgan Sheng with a blurred background

Morgan Sheng

Core Institute Member, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Co-Director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute
Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Affiliate Member, The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Affiliate Member, McGovern Institute for Brain Research

Contact Info

Office: Broad Institute, 75 Ames St. Room 9023
Phone: 617-714-7880
Website: Morgan Sheng

Administrative Assistant

Jeffrey Howard
Lab website: https://shenglab.broadinstitute.org/

A physician and a scientist, Morgan Sheng is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications focused on the molecular cellular biology of synapses and synaptic plasticity, and pathogenic mechanisms of neurodegenerative diseases. Sheng’s molecular studies of the structure and function of synapses (the communication junctions between brain cells) while at MGH and MIT have enhanced our understanding of the neural basis of cognitive function and dysfunction, including learning and memory, neurodevelopmental disorders, and dementia. His work has uncovered the form and complexity of protein complexes in the postsynaptic membrane that regulate the remarkable plasticity of neuronal connections.

At Genentech he built and led a world-class neuroscience department and research program focused on elucidating pathologic mechanisms and developing new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases and pain, and illuminating pathways that are of basic scientific interest as well as therapeutic relevance. Sheng and coworkers made important discoveries regarding the molecular mechanisms of synapse weakening and loss, the contributions of microglia and innate immunity in neurodegenerative diseases, and the roles of genetic risk factors in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, and frontotemporal dementia.

As Co-Director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute, Sheng will help to shape the center’s scientific vision and direction, and oversee the center’s efforts to develop therapeutics for schizophrenia and other serious mental illnesses.

Morgan Sheng is a Core Institute Member of the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, where he serves as Co-Director of the Broad’s Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research. He is also a Professor in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, an affiliate member of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, and a member of the Board of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research.

From 2001 to 2008, Sheng was the Menicon Professor of Neuroscience at MIT, as well as an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. From 2008 to 2019, Sheng was vice-president of neuroscience at Genentech, a leading biotech company, where he led research and drug discovery efforts for major diseases of the nervous system. His research at Genentech focused on pathogenic mechanisms of neurodegenerative disease, particularly Alzheimer and Parkinson disease. The goals of Sheng’s current research at the Broad are to understand the neurobiological mechanisms of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and to develop new therapeutics to treat patients suffering from these psychiatric illnesses.

Sheng is a Fellow of the Royal Society (UK), Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK), Member of the National Academy of Medicine (USA), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (USA), and honorary fellow of Corpus Christi College, Oxford (UK). He has served on the editorial boards of NeuronJournal of Neuroscience, and Current Opinions in Neurobiology. A recipient of the Young Investigator Award and the Julius Axelrod Prize of the Society for Neuroscience, and the Foundation Ipsen Prize in Neuronal Plasticity, Sheng is author of more than 200 peer-reviewed publications focused on the structure and plasticity of synapses and the mechanisms of brain diseases (neurodegenerative and neuropsychiatric).

Sheng received a B.A. (1st class honors) from Oxford University and obtained his medical degree and training at London University. His Ph.D. thesis was completed at Harvard Medical School in the lab of Michael Greenberg. Following postdoctoral research in the lab of Lily Jan at the University of California, San Francisco, Sheng was a faculty member and HHMI investigator in the Department of Neurobiology at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School before joining MIT.

  • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers
  • Young Investigator Award, Society for Neuroscience (1999)
  • President, Society of Chinese Neuroscientists of America (2001-2003)
  • Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) (elected Sept 2004)
  • Outstanding Achievement Award, Society of Chinese Bioscientists of American (SCBA) Neuroscience Division (2005).
  • Fondation IPSEN Prize for Neuronal Plasticity 2006 (shared)
  • Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS), London, UK (elected 2007)
  • Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences (UK) (elected 2009)
  • Honorary Fellow, Corpus Christi College, Oxford (elected 2010)
  • Julius Axelrod Prize (2020)
Featured publications are below. For a full list visit the lab website linked above.

May 30, 2023
Sameer Aryal, Kevin Bonanno, Bryan Song, D.R. Mani, Hasmik Keshishian, Steven A. Carr, Morgan Sheng, Borislav Dejanovic. Cell Reports. May 11, 2023. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2023.112497
February 2, 2023
Hu Zeng, Jiahao Huang, Haowen Zhou, William J. Meilandt, Borislav Dejanovic, Yiming Zhou, Christopher J. Bohlen, Seung-Hye Lee, Jingyi Ren, Albert Liu, Zefang Tang, Hao Sheng, Jia Liu, Morgan Sheng & Xiao Wang, Nat Neurosci (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41593-022-01251-x.
November 1, 2018
Dejanovic B, Huntley MA, De Mazière A, Meilandt WJ, Wu T, Srinivasan K, Jiang Z, Gandham V, Friedman BA, Ngu H, Foreman O, Carano RAD, Chih B, Klumperman J, Bakalarski C, Hanson JE, Sheng M. Neuron. 2018 Dec 19;100(6):1322-1336.e7. Epub 2018 Nov 1.
February 5, 2018
Hansen DV, Hanson JE, Sheng M. J Cell Biol. 2018 Feb 5;217(2):459-472. doi: 10.1083/jcb.201709069. Epub 2017 Dec 1. Review.
September 4, 2017
Chang MC, Srinivasan K, Friedman BA, Suto E, Modrusan Z, Lee WP, Kaminker JS, Hansen DV, Sheng M. J Exp Med. 2017 Sep 4;214(9):2611-2628.

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.

Researchers map brain cell changes in Alzheimer’s disease

February 2, 2023
Study reveals key cell structures and gene expression changes near amyloid plaques and tau tangles in mouse brain tissue

John Adeleye (Research Associate I)
Sameer Aryal, Ph.D (Postdoctoral Associate)
Diana Bohannon, Ph.D (Postdoctoral Associate)
Zohreh Farsi, Ph.D. (Research Scientist I)
Himanshu Gangal, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Associate)
Yang Ge, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Associate)
Ana Geller (Research Associate I)
Chuhan Geng (Research Associate I)
Alyssa Hall (Research Associate I)
Wei-Chao Huang, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Associate)
Kyla Jacobs (Research Associate I)
Prabhat Kunwar, Ph.D. (Senior Group Leader)
Min Jee Kwon, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Associate)
Xiaoman Liu, Ph.D. (Research Scientist I)
Deeksha Misri (Computational Associate I)
Sahana Natarajan (Research Associate I)
Kira Perzel Mandell, Ph.D. (Computational Scientist I)
Ines Picard (Research Associate I)
Santosh Pothula, Ph.D. (Research Scientist I)
Horia Pribiag, Ph.D. (Research Scientist I)
Bryan Song, Ph.D. (Postdoctoral Associate)

Sheng Lab Alumni

Kira Brenner
Borislav Dejanovic
David Graykowski
Linnea Herzog
Ally Nicolella
Nate Shepard
Sarah Wade