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
Three views of an organoid cell culture show the constiuent cells of the vaguely round, tangled mass of cells.  In the different views the cells are highlighted in different colors such as magenta and green.
April 14, 2026
Rett syndrome study highlights potential for personalized treatments
A video screenshot shows a grayscale worm twisting its body around in a loop to change direction
April 10, 2026
With navigating nematodes, scientists map out how brains implement behaviors

Anesthetic drastically diverts the travels of brain waves

April 27, 2022
Research Findings
Under propofol general anesthesia very slow frequency traveling waves transform and dominate, redirecting and disrupting the higher frequency traveling waves associated with conscious function

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