Research Topics

As this gallery of featured people and projects illustrates, Picower Institute scientists study brain structure and function at scales from genes and molecules to cells, circuits and regions. They also study the behaviors and cognitive processes that result, and seek to uncover how disruptions at different scales can result in developmental, psychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders. They employ—and often invent—the newest technologies in their work. To learn more about any of these specific areas, click "Research Topics" above, select areas of interest, and you'll find relevant Picower people, discoveries and events.

Picower Professor of Neuroscience

The Tsai lab is interested in elucidating the pathogenic mechanisms underlying neurological disorders that impact learning and memory by taking a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the molecular, cellular, and circuit basis of neurodegenerative disorders.

Research Areas

Alzheimer's dementia, Down syndrome, Single Cell Transcriptomics and Epigenomics, iPSCs, Brain Rhythms, Neuroimmune interactions, myelination, ApoE, lipid metabolism, Neuronal DNA damage

April 14, 2026

Research Findings

Using advanced human cell cultures to model Rett syndrome, MIT researchers tracked how two different mutations alter neural circuit development and how each could be addressed with distinct potential therapeutics

April 10, 2026

Research Findings

How do nervous systems produce behaviors? A new MIT study provides a detailed mechanistic mapping of exactly what happens in the brains of C. elegans worms when they “follow their nose” to savor attractive odors or avoid unappealing ones

March 17, 2026

Research Findings

Discovering this common mechanism could lead to a universal anesthesia-delivery system to monitor patients more effectively.

February 25, 2026

Research Findings

MIT neuroscientists have found that either of two genetic mutations that cause Rett syndrome undermine the structural integrity of developing blood vessels. By showing that the problem derives from overexpression of a microRNA, the new study points to a p

February 11, 2026

Research Findings

A collaboration centered at MIT discovered that mice modeling the autism spectrum disorder fragile X syndrome exhibit the same pattern of differences in low-frequency waves as human patients, identifying a new biomarker for treatment studies

February 6, 2026

Research Findings

Filled with vitally important neural fibers, the brainstem has been hard for brain imaging technologies to dissect. New software reliably and finely resolves eight distinct nerve bundles in live diffusion MRI scans, revealing signs of injury or disease

January 14, 2026

Research Findings

A new MIT study finds that somatostatin-expressing neurons follow a unique trajectory when forming connections in the brain’s visual cortex that may help establish the conditions needed for sensory experience to refine circuits.

December 29, 2025

Research Findngs

A new ‘biomimetic’ model of brain circuits and function at multiple scales produced naturalistic dynamics and learning, and even identified curious behavior by some neurons that had gone unnoticed in real-brain data.

December 22, 2025

Research Findngs

In a new study, MIT researchers tested their theory of Spatial Computing, which holds that the brain recruits and controls ad hoc groups of neurons for cognitive tasks by applying brain waves to patches of the cortex.

November 25, 2025

Research Findngs

MIT researchers have discovered how an immune system molecule triggers neurons in a specific brain circuit to shut down social behavior in mice modeling infection.

November 20, 2025

Research Findngs

When MIT neurobiologists tracked how more than 200 motor neurons in fruit flies each edited their RNA, they cataloged hundreds of target sites and widely varying editing rates. Scores of edits altered proteins involved in neural communication and function

Li-Huei Tsai

Rett syndrome study highlights potential for personalized treatments

With navigating nematodes, scientists map out how brains implement behaviors

Three anesthesia drugs all have the same effect in the brain, MIT researchers find

In Rett syndrome, leaky brain blood vessels traced to microRNA

Fragile X study uncovers brainwave biomarker bridging humans and mice

Opening a new window on the brainstem, AI algorithm enables tracking of its vital white matter pathways

How a unique class of neurons may set the table for brain development

Biology-based brain model matches animals in learning, enables new discovery

To flexibly organize thought, the brain makes use of space

Too sick to socialize: How the brain and immune system promote staying in bed

RNA editing study finds many ways for neurons to diversify