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.

How the brain focuses on what’s in mind

September 5, 2022
Research Findings
When holding information in mind, neural activity is more focused when and where there are bursts of gamma frequency rhythms

Microscopy technique reveals hidden nanostructures in cells and tissues

August 29, 2022
Research Findings
Separating densely packed molecules before imaging allows them to become visible for the first time

New findings reveal how neurons build and maintain their capacity to communicate

July 20, 2022
Research Findings
Nerve cells regulate and routinely refresh the collection of calcium channels that enable them to send messages across circuit connections

NIH award to help Heiman unearth roots of Huntington’s pathology

May 26, 2022
New Research
Research Program Award will fund studies to find early triggers of disease progression

Brown wins share of 2022 Gruber Neuroscience Prize

May 17, 2022
Picower People
Emery N. Brown and three other scientists recognized for advancing statistical, theoretical analyses of neuroscience data

A single memory is stored across many connected brain regions

April 11, 2022
Research Findings
Innovative brain-wide mapping study shows that “engrams,” the ensembles of neurons encoding a memory, are widely distributed, including among regions not previously realized

Emery Brown earns AIMBE’s highest honor

March 25, 2022
Picower People
Pierre Galletti Award recognizes contributions to neural signal processing, anesthesiology advances

Neurons are fickle. Electric fields are more reliable for information.

March 14, 2022
Research Findings
A new study suggests that electric fields may represent information held in working memory, allowing the brain to overcome “representational drift,” or the inconsistent participation of individual neurons

The model remodeler

March 14, 2022
Research Feature
A Picower Institute primer on ‘plasticity,’ the brain’s amazing ability to constantly adapt to and learn from experience

A new “atlas” of cells that carry blood to the brain

February 14, 2022
Research Findings
Single-cell gene expression analyses of human cerebrovascular cells can help reveal new drug targets for Huntington’s disease and other neurodegenerative diseases.

Next-generation tissue expansion method improves neural imaging

January 13, 2022
Research Findings
An upgrade of ‘MAP’ enables labeling of more proteins, deeper studies of circuit junctions in brain tissue

In Down syndrome cells, genome-wide disruptions mimic a senescence-like state

January 6, 2022
Research Findings
Extra chromosome alters chromosomal conformation and DNA accessibility across the whole genome in neural progenitor cells, disrupting gene transcription and cell functions much like in cellular aging.