A portrait of Myriam Heiman

Myriam Heiman

John and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Neuroscience
Investigator in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Research Areas

TRAP, neurotechnology, striatum, CAG, medium spiny neurons, neuronal identity, Huntington's Disease, neurodegeneration, Single Cell Transcriptomics and Epigenomics

Contact Info

Office: 46-4303
Phone: 617-452-3717
Email: mheiman@mit.edu
Website: https://heiman.mit.edu/

Administrative Assistant

Katherine Olson
Email: kjo@mit.edu

The focus of our research group is to understand the molecular basis of nerve cell function and dysfunction in CNS diseases and disorders.  We seek to understand what combination of cell autonomous and non-cell autonomous mechanisms leads to vulnerability in these diseases and disorders, as well as which cell types are most important in considering the actions of CNS-acting drugs such as antipsychotic drugs and addictive drugs.  We focus on the development of genetic, genomic, and biochemical methods for the study of the mammalian nervous system, as well as the study of basal ganglia circuits and their dysfunction in disease.  

TRAP, neurotechnology, striatum, CAG, medium spiny neurons, neuronal identity, Huntington's Disease, neurodegeneration, Single Cell Transcriptomics and Epigenomics

Dr. Heiman’s expertise is in the development of genetic and biochemical methods for the study of the mammalian nervous system, as well as the study of basal ganglia circuits and their dysfunction in disease. She received a B.A. in molecular biology from Princeton University, a Ph.D. in cell biology from the Johns Hopkins University, and post-doctoral training at the Rockefeller University.

  • 2024  - Committed to Caring Award, MIT
  • 2023 - Newton Brain Science Award
  • 2022 - R35 Research Program Award (NIH/NINDS)
  • 2022 - NIH Director's Transformative Research Award
  • 2020 - Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, MIT Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
  • 2017 - Award for Excellence in Graduate Mentoring, 
    MIT Dept. of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
  • 2017 - Newton Brain Science Award
  • 2016 - Jeptha H. and Emily V. Wade Award
  • 2016 - Fay/Frank Award, Brain Research Foundation
  • 2015-  EUREKA award, NINDS
  • 2011 - William N. & Bernice E. Bumpus Foundation Early Career Investigator Innovation Award
Featured publications are below. For a full list visit the lab website linked above.

January 17, 2023
Transcriptional vulnerabilities of striatal neurons in human and rodent models of Huntington's disease.
Matsushima, A., Pineda, S.S., Crittenden, J.R., Lee, H., Galani, K., Mantero, J., Tombaugh, G., Kellis, M., Heiman, M., and Graybiel, A.M. (2023). Nat Commun., 14(1):282.
August 22, 2022
A partnership between the lipid scramblase XK and the lipid transfer protein VPS13A at the plasma membrane
Guillén-Samander, A., Wu, Y., Pineda, S.S., Garcia, F.J., Eisen, J.N., Leonzino, M., Ugur, B., Kellis, M., Heiman, M., and De Camilli, P. (2022). Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 119(35):e2205425119.
April 6, 2022
Back-to-BACs in Huntington's disease modeling
Lee, H., and Heiman, M. (2022). Neuron, 110(7):1087-1089.
February 14, 2022
Single-cell dissection of the human brain vasculature
Garcia, F.J., Sun, N., Lee, H., Godlewski, B., Mathys, H., Galani, K., Zhou, B., Jiang, X., Ng, A.P., Mantero, J., Tsai, L-H., Bennett, D.A., Shahin, M., Kellis, M., and Heiman, M. (2022). Nature, 603(7903):893-899.
March 31, 2021
An amygdala circuit that suppresses social engagement
Jeong-Tae Kwon, Changhyeon Ryu, Hyeseung Lee, Alec Sheffield, Jingxuan Fan, Daniel H. Cho, Shivani Bigler, Heather A. Sullivan, Han Kyung Choe, Ian R. Wickersham, Myriam Heiman & Gloria B. Choi. Nature (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03413-6

Genetic screen offers new drug targets for Huntington’s disease

January 30, 2020
Research findings
Neuroscientists identify genes that modulate the disease’s toxic effects
Read more

MIT biologists discover an unusual hallmark of aging in neurons

November 27, 2018
Research findings
Snippets of RNA that accumulate in brain cells could interfere with normal function
Read more

Making waves for health

March 1, 2018
News feature
Innovative insights, methods raise clnical potential of instilling brain waves
Read more

James Cameron

Graduate Student, MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Audrey Effenberger

FTF Postdoctoral Fellow

Vanessa Farrell

Laboratory Manager

Francisco Garcia

Hereditary Disease Foundation Postdoctoral Fellow

Preston Ge

MD/PhD Student, MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Rajan KC

Postdoctoral Associate

Hyeseung Lee

Postdoctoral Associate

Raleigh Linville

NIH Ruth L. Kirschstein  Individual National Research Service Award Postdoctoral Fellow

Mayowa Oke

MD/PhD Student, MIT Biology

Sebastian Pineda

Postdoctoral Associate

Suphinya ‘Bee’ Sathitloetsakun

Postdoctoral Associate

Flossie Wan

Graduate Student, MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Charlotte Wang

Graduate Student, MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Jessie Xiao

Graduate Student, MIT Biology

From: https://picower.mit.edu/myriam-heiman