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.

July 9, 2024

Picower People

With strong personal motivation and up to three years of support from the HHMI Gilliam Fellows Program, graduate student Mingus Rae Zoller will probe mysteries of Alzheimer’s and its possible treatment.

June 13, 2024

Research Findings

A suite of three innovations by an MIT-based team enables high-throughput imaging of human brain tissue at a full range of scales and mapping connectivity of neurons at single cell resolution.

May 20, 2024

Research Findings

New research addresses a gap in understanding how ketamine’s impact on individual neurons leads to pervasive and profound changes in brain network function.

May 8, 2024

New Research

With support from The Marcus Foundation, an MIT neuroscientist and a Harvard Medical School immunologist will study the “fever effect” in an effort to devise therapies that mimic its beneficial effects.

March 27, 2024

Picower Events

Alana Down Syndrome Center team recruiting volunteers to test whether 40Hz light and sound stimulation produces cognitive benefits.

February 28, 2024

Research Findings

Stimulating a key brain rhythm with light and sound increases peptide release from interneurons, driving clearance of Alzheimer’s protein via the brain’s glymphatic system, new study suggests.

January 18, 2024

Research Findings

Across mammalian species, brain waves are slower in deep cortical layers, while superficial layers generate faster rhythms.

December 20, 2023

Research Feature

Picower Institute scientists are using single cell genomics techniques to measure gene expression and produce unque insights into nervous system biology and disease

December 20, 2023

Research Feature

A new review surveys a broadening landscape of studies showing what’s known, and what remains to be found, about the therapeutic potential of non-invasive sensory, electrical or magnetic stimulation of gamma brain rhythms.

December 11, 2023

Research Findings

In mice and human cell cultures, MIT researchers showed that novel nanoparticles can deliver a potential therapy for inflammation in the brain, a prominent symptom in Alzheimer’s disease

November 16, 2023

Research Findings

A new MIT study finds that microglia with mutant TREM2 protein reduce brain circuit connections, promote inflammation and contribute to Alzheimer’s pathology in other ways

November 2, 2023

New Research

Picower Institute-based collaboration will study mechanisms that might enable peripheral immune cells to deliver a potentially therapeutic molecule to the brain.

Fellowship supports student’s work to advance Alzheimer’s research and equity

Technologies enable 3D imaging of whole human brain hemispheres at subcellular resolution

Study models how ketamine’s molecular action leads to its effects on the brain

Autism symptoms sometimes improve amid fever, so a research team will study how to make that a therapy

Tsai presents non-invasive stimulation study at Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress

How sensory gamma rhythm stimulation clears amyloid in Alzheimer’s mice

Study reveals a universal pattern of brain wave frequencies

'Cellf' Expression

Evidence early, but emerging, that gamma rhythm stimulation can treat neurological disorders

Nanoparticle-delivered RNA reduces neuroinflammation in lab tests

How a mutation in microglia elevates Alzheimer’s risk

New grant to study possibility of an immunotherapy for autism