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

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

McKnight Scholars Award supports Flavell lab’s gut-brain connection studies

May 28, 2020
Picower People
Award will help researchers understand how the body’s microbiome influences the brain

Research highlights immune molecule’s complex role in Huntington’s disease

May 26, 2020
Research Findings
Knocking out the immune cytokine IL-6 exacerbates symptoms in HD model mice, affects neural connection genes

Grant fuels effort to develop new Alzheimer’s drug

May 22, 2020
New Research
Collaboration will develop compound to correct gene expression in brain’s immune cells