Wearing white lab coats in the lab, Mark Bear stands behind Sara Kornfeld-Sylla as she sits in a stool at a lab bench
February 11, 2026
Fragile X study uncovers brainwave biomarker bridging humans and mice
A 3 by 2 array shows three different cross sections of the brainstem in two rows. The top row shows the new tool which highlights in different colors distinct shapes within the brainstem. The bottom row shows finer tracings of fibers, colored the same way, through the brainstem.
February 6, 2026
Opening a new window on the brainstem, AI algorithm enables tracking of its vital white matter pathways
A cross section of a mouse brain glows with a magenta hue. Many individual speckles across the whole brain are lit up brighter.
January 14, 2026
How a unique class of neurons may set the table for brain development
A realistic rendering shows a wide field of neurons densely bunched together
December 29, 2025
Biology-based brain model matches animals in learning, enables new discovery
On a black background there is a profile of a head with a light colored line-art brain in the middle. The brain has bright spots in various areas. From front and back, waves made of vertical lines emanate from the head.
December 22, 2025
To flexibly organize thought, the brain makes use of space

Fragile X study uncovers brainwave biomarker bridging humans and mice

February 11, 2026
Research Findings
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

February 6, 2026
Research Findings
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

January 14, 2026
Research Findings
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

December 29, 2025
Research Findngs
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.

To flexibly organize thought, the brain makes use of space

December 22, 2025
Research Findngs
In a new study, MIT researchers tested their theory of Spatial Computing, which holds that the brain recruits and controls ad hoc groups of neurons for cognitive tasks by applying brain waves to patches of the cortex.

Focus on Fats

December 17, 2025
Research Feature
A Picower Institute lab is on a mission to discover how cells mishandle lipid molecules in Alzheimer’s disease and is using that knowledge to develop treatments.

Too sick to socialize: How the brain and immune system promote staying in bed

November 25, 2025
Research Findngs
MIT researchers have discovered how an immune system molecule triggers neurons in a specific brain circuit to shut down social behavior in mice modeling infection.

Prefrontal cortex reaches back into the brain to shape how other regions function

November 25, 2025
Research Findngs
A new MIT study illustrates how areas within the brain’s executive control center tailor their messages in specific circuits with other brain regions to influence them with information about behavior and internal feelings.

RNA editing study finds many ways for neurons to diversify

November 20, 2025
Research Findngs
When MIT neurobiologists tracked how more than 200 motor neurons in fruit flies each edited their RNA, they cataloged hundreds of target sites and widely varying editing rates. Scores of edits altered proteins involved in neural communication and function

MIT study shows how vision can be rebooted in adults with amblyopia

November 19, 2025
Research Findngs
Temporarily anesthetizing the retina briefly reverts the activity of the visual system to that observed in early development and enables growth of responses to the amblyopic eye, new research shows

Brain waves’ analog organization of cortex enables cognition and consciousness, MIT professor proposes at SfN

November 15, 2025
Picower People
On neuroscience’s big stage Nov. 15, MIT Professor Earl K. Miller proposed that thought and consciousness emerge from the fast and flexible organization of the cortex produced by the analog computations of brain waves.

Q&A: Picower researchers join effort to investigate the ‘Biology of Adversity’

November 3, 2025
New Research
Assistant Professor Sara Prescott and Research Affiliate Ravikiran Raju are key collaborators in a new Broad Institute research project to better understand physiological and medical effects of acute and chronic life stressors.