Molecular and Cellular

Picower Institute scientists probe the role of genes, proteins and molecules in the physiology and action of neurons and glia, including how synaptic connections change. To learn more about these or other areas of inquiry, select them under Research Topics and you'll find relevant Picower people, discoveries and events.

October 21, 2025

New Research

“FINGERPRINT” proposes to use AI to link discovery, prevention, therapy by reasoning across multiple biological and clinical data sets.

October 16, 2025

Research Findngs

MIT neuroscientists show in a new study that loops of RNA can strongly influence how neurons build circuit connections, or synapses, during the development of the visual system in young mice.

October 14, 2025

Research Findngs

By carefully tracking the formation and maturation of synaptic active zones in fruit flies, MIT scientists have discovered how neural activity helps circuit connections become tuned to the right size and degree of signal transmission

September 29, 2025

Picower Events

Before a packed house, speakers at MIT’s Aging Brain Initiative symposium described how immune system factors during aging contribute to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other conditions. The field is leveraging that knowledge to develop new therapies

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.

September 2, 2025

Research Findngs

Study of 3.5 million cells from more than 100 human brains finds that Alzheimer’s progression—but also resilience to disease—depends on preserving epigenomic stability.

July 1, 2025

Research Findings

A first-of-its-kind study in mice reveals that neurons add and shed synapses at a frenzied pace during development to integrate visual signals from the two eyes.

June 16, 2025

Research Feature

Rooted in fundamental curiosity about how the brain works, Picower scientists continue to break new ground in understanding autism and devising treatment strategies

June 9, 2025

New Research

Campuswide collaboration sparks new research to develop assistive technology, enhance interventions, decipher brain biochemistry, advance big data analysis, and assess the public’s understanding of dementia risk and protective factors.

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 22, 2025

Picower People

Assistant Professor Linlin Fan will apply her lab’s precise “all-optical” techniques to study how serotonin might influence plasticity in memory, and whether psychedelics affect that.

April 21, 2025

Research Findings

Clinical trial finds several outcomes improved for young children when an anesthesiologist observed their brain waves to guide dosing of sevoflurane during surgery.

MIT-based team advances to semi-finals of Gates-funded competition to apply ’agentic’ AI to studying Alzheimer’s

Study finds circular RNA helps drive brain development

Neural activity helps circuit connections mature into optimal signal transmitters

Immune-informed brain aging research offers new treatment possibilities, speakers say

Study explains how a rare gene variant contributes to Alzheimer’s disease

Alzheimer’s erodes brain cells’ control of gene expression, undermining function, cognition

Connect or reject: Extensive rewiring builds binocular vision in the brain

Autism advances

Aging Brain Initiative seed grants fund five new projects to address neurodegenerative disease

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

With Searle Scholar award, Fan will study serotonin role in memory

In kids, EEG monitoring of consciousness safely reduces anesthetic use