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.

July 17, 2020
Cell Type-Specific Transcriptomics Reveals that Mutant Huntingtin Leads to Mitochondrial RNA Release and Neuronal Innate Immune Activation
Lee, H., Fenster, R.J., Pineda, S.S.P., Gibbs, W.S., Mohammadi, S., Davila-Velderrain, J., Garcia, F.G., Therrien, M., Novis, H.S., Gao, F., Wilkinson, H., Vogt, T., Kellis, M, LaVoie, M.J., Heiman M. (2020). Neuron 107, 16-34.
June 29, 2020
Selective Neuronal Vulnerability in Alzheimer’s Disease: A Network-Based Analysis
Roussarie, J-P., Yao, V., Rodriguez-Rodriguez, P., Oughtred, R., Rust, J., Plautz, Z., Kasturia, S., Albornoz, C., Wang, W., Schmidt, E.F., Dannenfelser, R., Tadych, A., Brichta, L., Barnea-Cramer, A., Heintz, N., Hof, P.R., Heiman, M., Dolinski, K., Flajolet, M., Troyanskaya, O.G., Greengard P.
(2020). Neuron 107, 1-15
May 24, 2020
Interleukin-6 Deficiency Exacerbates Huntington's Disease Model Phenotypes
Wertz, M. H., Pineda, S. S., Lee H., Kulicke, R., Kellis, M., Heiman, M. (2020).
Mol Neurodegener. 15(1):29.
January 30, 2020
Genome-wide in vivo CNS Screening Identifies Genes that Modify CNS Neuronal Survival and mHTT Toxicity
Wertz, M.H., Mitchem, M.R., Hachigian, L.J., Powers, A., Kulicke, R., Lee, H., Madan, G.K., Colic, M., Therrien, M., Vernon, A., Beja-Glasser, V.F., Hegde, M., Gao, F., Hart, T., Doench, J.G., and Heiman, M. (2020). Neuron 106, 1-14.
November 22, 2019
A Cortical-Brainstem Circuit Predicts and Governs Compulsive Alcohol Drinking
Siciliano, C.A., Noamany, H., Chang, C.-J., Brown, A.R., Chen, X., Leible, X., Lee J.J., Wang, J., Vernon, A.N., Vander Weele, C.M., Kimchi, E.Y., Heiman, M., and Tye, K.M. (2019). Science 366, 1008-1012.

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