Disorders

Picower Institute scientists investigate the pathophysiological mechanisms underlying complex disorders of the brain that affect emotion and cognition. To learn more about research in these or other areas, select them under "Research Topics" and you'll find relevant Picower people, discoveries and events.

April 24, 2025

Picower Events

An Alana Down Syndrome Center webinar, co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress, presented numerous MIT studies that all share the goal of improving health throughout life for people with trisomy 21.

April 24, 2025

Research Findngs

Study provides new evidence that sensory stimulation of gamma-frequency brain rhythm may promote broad-based restorative neurological health response.

April 7, 2025

Research Findings

New research on a cytokine called IL-17 adds to growing evidence that immune molecules can influence behavior during illness.

April 2, 2025

Picower People

Honor recognizes Choi’s research on connections between the immune and central nervous systems and their relevance to autism and other disorders

March 14, 2025

Research Feature

The field is called neuroscience, but neurons alone can’t operate your brain. Research is revealing how non-neural cells indispensably contribute to function, and why their roles can make them promising treatment targets in disease.

March 3, 2025

A decade of studies from labs around the world provide a growing evidence base that increasing the power of the brain’s gamma rhythms could help fight Alzheimer’s, and perhaps other, neurological diseases.

February 20, 2025

Research Findings

Enhancing activity of a specific component of ‘NMDA’ receptors normalized protein synthesis, neural activity and seizure susceptibility in hippocampus of fragile X lab mice

February 18, 2025

Research Findings

New research adds evidence that learning a successful strategy for approaching a task doesn’t prevent further exploration, even if it reduces performance.

November 21, 2024

Recent Events

At a symposium of the Simons Center for the Social Brain, six speakers described a diversity of recently launched studies aimed at improving understanding of the autistic brain.

September 6, 2024

Research Feature

Studying neuromodulators such as serotonin and norepinephrine could help make them better targets for psychiatric or psychedelic drugs

August 8, 2024

Research Findings

MIT scientists report that gamma frequency light and sound stimulation preserves myelination in mouse models and reveal molecular mechanisms that may underlie the benefit.

July 24, 2024

Research Findings

Genomics and lab studies reveal numerous findings, including a key role for Reelin amid neuronal vulnerability, and for choline and antioxidants in sustaining cognition.

MIT Down syndrome researchers work on ways to ensure a healthy lifespan

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Molecules that fight infection also act on the brain, inducing anxiety or sociability

Gloria Choi earns Samsung Ho-Am Prize for Medicine

A neuron’s neighbors

Review: Evidence expanding that 40Hz gamma stimulation promotes brain health

Study suggests new molecular strategy for treating fragile X syndrome

Even after learning the right idea, humans and animals still seem to test other approaches, study suggests

New autism research projects represent a broad range of approaches to achieving a shared goal

Better living through brain chemistry

Study reveals ways in which 40Hz sensory stimulation may preserve brain’s ‘white matter’

Study across multiple brain regions discerns Alzheimer’s vulnerability and resilience factors