a closeup of a baby with beautiful blue eyes that seem a bit cross-eyed
July 1, 2025
Connect or reject: Extensive rewiring builds binocular vision in the brain
Six portraits across two rows: Joe Coughlin, Giovanni Traverso, Pattie Maes across the top and Bin Zhang, Laura Kiessling and Ed Boyden along the bottom.
June 9, 2025
Aging Brain Initiative seed grants fund five new projects to address neurodegenerative disease
Against a dark blue background we see two sine waves shifted out of phase with eachother
May 12, 2025
Different anesthetics, same result: unconsciousness by shifting brainwave phase
Neurons glow green against a black background in a section of a mouse brain. A few red specks can be seen. An inset magnifies one of these cells that has red and green staining.
April 28, 2025
Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten
A 2 by 2 array of panels that each show a hairpin-like shape of blue stained cells. The left column is laberled "Ambient light/sound." The right column is labeled "40Hz Stimulation." The panels in the 40Hz column show more yellow arrows pointing white blotches than the panels in the ambient column.
April 24, 2025
In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

New trial to test brain wave stimulation as Alzheimer’s preventative

August 25, 2020
New Research
MIT, MGH join forces to test whether ‘GENUS’ stimulation of 40Hz rhythms can reduce disease pathology before onset of symptoms

Math shows how brain stays stable amid internal noise and a widely varying world

August 10, 2020
Research Findings
Theoretical framework shows that many properties of neural connections help biological circuits produce consistent computations

To distinguish contexts, animals think probabilistically, study suggests

August 3, 2020
Research Findings
A new statistical model may help scientists understand how animals make inferences about whether their surroundings are novel or haven’t changed enough to be a new context

Neural vulnerability in Huntington’s disease tied to release of mitochondrial RNA

July 17, 2020
Research Findings
Unique survey of gene expression by cell type in humans and mice reveals several deficits affecting the most vulnerable neurons

Seemingly similar, two neurons show distinct styles as they interact with the same muscle partner

July 7, 2020
Research Findings
Diversity in how cells talk to the muscle they innervate reveal distinct propensities for change, or “plasticity”

Findings weaken notion that size equals strength for neural connections

June 30, 2020
Research Findings
Among study’s many surprises may be a new way to address Fragile X syndrome – by finding a “Protein X”

The story behind the science: How discovery develops

June 25, 2020
News Feature
An inside look at a key paper illustrates what it can take to publish new knowledge

‘Skyrocketing’ research by investing in young researchers

June 23, 2020
Picower People
Picower Institute postdocs advance new ideas, gain skills with support of NIH’s ‘K99’ awards

Dopamine signaling allows neural circuits to generate coordinated behaviors

June 11, 2020
Research Findings
As part of study, team invents new open-source microscopy platform

Study finds path for addressing Alzheimer’s blood-brain barrier impairment

June 8, 2020
Research Findings
MIT researchers pinpoint mechanism and demonstrate drugs could help

Like a treasure map, brain region emphasizes reward location

June 1, 2020
Research Findings
Lateral septum encodes spatial information with a special emphasis on where the reward lies

Closing social distance with social media by highlighting a volunteer science movement

May 29, 2020
News Feature
While home from the bench, Tonegawa lab postdoc co-runs Twitter feed of the Covid-19 National Scientist Volunteer Database