With navigating nematodes, scientists map out how brains implement behaviors
How do nervous systems produce behaviors? A new MIT study provides a detailed mechanistic mapping of exactly what happens in the brains of C. elegans worms when they “follow their nose” to savor attractive odors or avoid unappealing ones
Picower Institute researchers and collaborators are inventing versatile new models of the brain to accelerate neuroscience discoveries and biomedical advances.
In Rett syndrome, leaky brain blood vessels traced to microRNA
MIT neuroscientists have found that either of two genetic mutations that cause Rett syndrome undermine the structural integrity of developing blood vessels. By showing that the problem derives from overexpression of a microRNA, the new study points to a p
As worms and jellyfish wriggle, new AI tools track their neurons
Three new neural network-based tools enable fast, accurate alignment and annotation of images even in very wiggly subjects. The tools might offer a way to automate cell tracking in other imaging datasets, too.
Sloan Fellowship will help Fan advance technology to study how brain circuits change amid learning
Linlin Fan uses innovative optical tools to precisely investigate how connections change among neurons during memory formation. With Sloan Foundation support, she plans to give the technology a significant upgrade
Fragile X study uncovers brainwave biomarker bridging humans and mice
A collaboration centered at MIT discovered that mice modeling the autism spectrum disorder fragile X syndrome exhibit the same pattern of differences in low-frequency waves as human patients, identifying a new biomarker for treatment studies
Opening a new window on the brainstem, AI algorithm enables tracking of its vital white matter pathways
Filled with vitally important neural fibers, the brainstem has been hard for brain imaging technologies to dissect. New software reliably and finely resolves eight distinct nerve bundles in live diffusion MRI scans, revealing signs of injury or disease
How a unique class of neurons may set the table for brain development
A new MIT study finds that somatostatin-expressing neurons follow a unique trajectory when forming connections in the brain’s visual cortex that may help establish the conditions needed for sensory experience to refine circuits.
Biology-based brain model matches animals in learning, enables new discovery
A new ‘biomimetic’ model of brain circuits and function at multiple scales produced naturalistic dynamics and learning, and even identified curious behavior by some neurons that had gone unnoticed in real-brain data.