a cartoon of a brain with cogs and gears
August 17, 2026
Flexible brain circuits can switch between different tasks
Over a tangle of dark blue neurons, bright orange spots appear along the lengths of some of the axons, highlighting their paths through the tangle
August 13, 2026
Brain circuit keeps tabs on what just happened to aid judgement of what’s happening now
Shanshan Zhang and Rosie Firenze stand before a Massachusetts Life Sciences Center backdrop holding and award certificate
July 29, 2026
With Mass. Women’s Health Award, team will study how Alzheimer’s risk varies with hormone replacement
Emery Brown sits behind his desk in his MIT office. A teddy bear rests nestled among some books on a shelf behind him, just over his right shoulder.
July 20, 2026
MIT names Emery N. Brown an "Institute Professor," its highest faculty honor
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

Advanced imaging reveals mired migration of neurons in Rett syndrome lab models

July 29, 2022
Research Findings
Using organoids to model early development, researchers used an emerging microscopy technology to see that new neurons struggled to reach their developmental destination

Sprint then stop? Brain is wired for the math to make it happen

July 28, 2022
Research Findings
To ensure a quick halt, brain circuit architecture avoids a slow process of integration in favor of quicker differentiation, study finds

New findings reveal how neurons build and maintain their capacity to communicate

July 20, 2022
Research Findings
Nerve cells regulate and routinely refresh the collection of calcium channels that enable them to send messages across circuit connections

For high schoolers, summer starts with extra exposure to biomedical science

June 23, 2022
Picower People
Just before school was out for summer, high school students from Everett and Lawrence toured life sciences research labs at MIT to get information and inspiration

How the brain responds to surprising events

June 1, 2022
Research Findings
Unexpected outcomes trigger release of noradrenaline, which helps the brain focus its attention and learn from the event

NIH award to help Heiman unearth roots of Huntington’s pathology

May 26, 2022
New Research
Research Program Award will fund studies to find early triggers of disease progression

Brown wins share of 2022 Gruber Neuroscience Prize

May 17, 2022
Picower People
Emery N. Brown and three other scientists recognized for advancing statistical, theoretical analyses of neuroscience data

Circuit model may explain how deep brain stimulation treats Parkinson’s disease symptoms

May 16, 2022
Research Findings
Stimulation of subthalamic nucleus interrupts a cycle of runaway beta-frequency rhythms and restores ability of interneurons to regulate rhythms in the brain’s striatum, improving movement, study suggests

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