Li-Huei Tsai stands at a podium embossed with an MIT logo. In the foreground is an attentive audience. In the background is the Picower Institute logo
March 11, 2026
After 16+ years leading Picower Institute, Li-Huei Tsai will sharpen focus on research, teaching
Two panels show blue cells surrounded by thin green outlines. The outlines are much more consistent and prevalent in the image on the left, which is labeled as the wild type, than on the right which is labeled Rett syndrome.
February 25, 2026
In Rett syndrome, leaky brain blood vessels traced to microRNA
a series of small blocky spots of color appear in the aggregate to make up the shape of a worm as it stretches horizonally across a black background
February 24, 2026
As worms and jellyfish wriggle, new AI tools track their neurons
Linlin Fan stands in her lab with microscope equipment in the foreground.
February 17, 2026
Sloan Fellowship will help Fan advance technology to study how brain circuits change amid learning
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

Circuit that focuses attention brings in wide array of inputs

April 21, 2022
Research Findings
With a comprehensive map of the wiring, researchers can now discern what information flows into the circuit to enable a key brain function

Aging Brain Initiative awards fund 5 new ideas to study, fight neurodegeneration

April 20, 2022
New Research
Competitive seed grants launch yearlong investigations of novel hypotheses about potential causes, biomarkers, treatments of Alzheimer’s and ALS.

A single memory is stored across many connected brain regions

April 11, 2022
Research Findings
Innovative brain-wide mapping study shows that “engrams,” the ensembles of neurons encoding a memory, are widely distributed, including among regions not previously realized

Emery Brown earns AIMBE’s highest honor

March 25, 2022
Picower People
Pierre Galletti Award recognizes contributions to neural signal processing, anesthesiology advances

Neurons are fickle. Electric fields are more reliable for information.

March 14, 2022
Research Findings
A new study suggests that electric fields may represent information held in working memory, allowing the brain to overcome “representational drift,” or the inconsistent participation of individual neurons

The model remodeler

March 14, 2022
Research Feature
A Picower Institute primer on ‘plasticity,’ the brain’s amazing ability to constantly adapt to and learn from experience

Mriganka Sur elected to the 2022 class of the AIMBE College of Fellows

February 28, 2022
Picower People
National Institute recognizes innovations and research elucidating neuronal plasticity and computations

A new “atlas” of cells that carry blood to the brain

February 14, 2022
Research Findings
Single-cell gene expression analyses of human cerebrovascular cells can help reveal new drug targets for Huntington’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Research advances technology of AI assistance for anesthesiologists

February 2, 2022
Research Findings
A new deep learning algorithm trained to optimize doses of propofol to maintain unconsciousness during general anesthesia could augment patient monitoring

‘Traveling’ nature of brain waves may help working memory work

January 31, 2022
Research Findings
The act of holding information in mind is accompanied by coordination of rotating brain waves in the prefrontal cortex, a new study finds.

Next-generation tissue expansion method improves neural imaging

January 13, 2022
Research Findings
An upgrade of ‘MAP’ enables labeling of more proteins, deeper studies of circuit junctions in brain tissue

In Down syndrome cells, genome-wide disruptions mimic a senescence-like state

January 6, 2022
Research Findings
Extra chromosome alters chromosomal conformation and DNA accessibility across the whole genome in neural progenitor cells, disrupting gene transcription and cell functions much like in cellular aging.