A portrait of Susumu Tonegawa in front of a gray background
July 15, 2026
Picower Professor Susumu Tonegawa, renowned molecular biologist and Nobel laureate, dies at 86
A closeup of a piece of paper displaying many squiggly lines of brainwaves
July 7, 2026
Electric fields help guide neural activity, even from moment to moment
Myriam Heiman stands along the blue glassy windows of the Reading Terrace in MIT's Building 46
May 26, 2026
Myriam Heiman named the director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
On a black background a spiny section of a neural dendrite is outlined in white. Within the outline numerous little white dots indicate the actual dendrite within the outline.
May 14, 2026
The rules neurons follow to make sense of what we see
A microscope view of several worms wriggling through a red-hued gel
April 20, 2026
How neurons sense bacteria in the gut

Leading with rigor, kindness, and care

April 2, 2026
Picower People
“We cannot be effective scientists if we are unhappy or unhealthy outside of the lab,” says “Committed to Caring” honoree Sara Prescott.

Brain Simulation

March 23, 2026
Research Feature
Picower Institute researchers and collaborators are inventing versatile new models of the brain to accelerate neuroscience discoveries and biomedical advances.

Three anesthesia drugs all have the same effect in the brain, MIT researchers find

March 17, 2026
Research Findings
Discovering this common mechanism could lead to a universal anesthesia-delivery system to monitor patients more effectively.

After 16+ years leading Picower Institute, Li-Huei Tsai will sharpen focus on research, teaching

March 11, 2026
Picower People
Tsai, who has grown the MIT neuroscience institute, will increase focus on research including Alzheimer’s disease and Down syndrome

In Rett syndrome, leaky brain blood vessels traced to microRNA

February 25, 2026
Research Findings
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

February 24, 2026
Research Findings
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

February 17, 2026
Picower People
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

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.