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.

Li-Huei Tsai

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

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

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.
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RNA editing study finds many ways for neurons to diversify

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
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MIT study shows how vision can be rebooted in adults with amblyopia

November 19, 2025
Research Findngs
Temporarily anesthetizing the retina briefly reverts the activity of the visual system to that observed in early development and enables growth of responses to the amblyopic eye, new research shows
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Brain waves’ analog organization of cortex enables cognition and consciousness, MIT professor proposes at SfN

November 15, 2025
Picower People
On neuroscience’s big stage Nov. 15, MIT Professor Earl K. Miller proposed that thought and consciousness emerge from the fast and flexible organization of the cortex produced by the analog computations of brain waves.
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After distractions, rotating brain waves may help thought circle back to the task

November 3, 2025
Research Findngs
To get back on track after a distraction, the cortex appears to employ a rotating traveling wave, a new study by MIT neuroscientists finds.
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Small study suggests 40Hz sensory stimulation may benefit some Alzheimer’s patients for years

October 27, 2025
Research Findngs
Five volunteers continued receiving 40Hz stimulation for around two years after an early-stage MIT clinical study. Those with late-onset Alzheimer’s performed significantly better on assessments than comparable Alzheimer’s patients outside the trial
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Like radar, a brain wave sweeps a cortical region to read out information held in working memory

October 20, 2025
Research Findngs
When spotting what’s changed from one scene to the next, performance will depend on a low-frequency “theta” brain wave that scans the mental image, a new MIT study shows.
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MIT invents human brain model with six major cell types to enable personalized disease research, drug discovery

October 17, 2025
Research Findngs
Cultured from induced pluripotent stem cells, ‘miBrains’ integrate all major brain cell types and model brain structures, cellular interactions, activity, and pathological features.
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Many Mechanisms of Mood

September 29, 2025
Research Feature
Picower Institute studies reveal a number of ways moods emerge in the brain and therefore many potential paths to address depression, PTSD, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
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How the brain splits up vision without you even noticing

September 22, 2025
Research Findngs
As an object moves across your field of view, the brain seamlessly hands off visual processing from one hemisphere to the other like cell phone towers or relay racers do, a new MIT study shows.
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Study explains how a rare gene variant contributes to Alzheimer’s disease

September 10, 2025
Research Findngs
Lipid metabolism and cell membrane function can be disrupted in the neurons of people who carry rare variants of ABCA7.
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From: https://picower.mit.edu/research-topics