Systems Neuroscience

Picower Institute scientists seek to understand the complex circuits and processes that the brain constructs and employs so that we can perceive, learn, think, plan, and feel. 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.

April 23, 2024

Research Findings

Bursts of brain rhythms with “beta” frequencies control where and when neurons in the cortex process sensory information and plan responses. Studying these bursts would improve understanding of cognition and clinical disorders, researchers write.

April 17, 2024

Research Findings

Thought emerges and is controlled in the brain via the rhythmically and spatially coordinated activity of millions of neurons, scientists argue in a new article. Understanding cognition and its disorders requires studying it at that level.

March 25, 2024

Research Findings

Scientists have now observed how the brain’s place cells stave off inhibitory input in the process of establishing their tuning to specific locations. The study shows that signaling by endocannabinoids is required.

March 6, 2024

Research Findings

Stimulating gamma brain waves may protect cancer patients from memory impairment and other cognitive effects of chemotherapy, a new mouse study suggests.

January 2, 2024

Picower People

Assistant Professor Linlin Fan launches a lab to shine a finely focused, innovative spotlight on the neural basis of encoding knowledge.

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.

November 6, 2023

Picower People

The Krieg Cortical Kudos Discoverer Award recognizes Nedivi’s ongoing work to understand molecular and cellular mechanisms that enable the brain to adapt to experience

October 30, 2023

Picower People

Society for Neuroscience Award recognizes Professor Mark Bear’s synaptic plasticity research, its translation to potential amblyopia and autism treatments, and his career of mentorship.

October 20, 2023

Research Findings

A flexible new tool both monitors and manipulates neural activity in the brains of large animals.

September 27, 2023

Research Findings

In C. elegans worms, a single neuron named HSN uses multiple chemicals and connections to orchestrate egg-laying and locomotion over the course of several minutes

September 27, 2023

Research Findings

Scientists have invested decades in piecing together how our vision is so good at recognizing what’s familiar. A new study overcomes an apparent discrepancy in data to reveal a new insight into how it works.

September 14, 2023

Neural activity during sleep has a signature structure that the brain uses to make profound improvements in our thinking and wellness

In the brain, bursts of beta rhythms implement cognitive control

Paper: To understand cognition—and its dysfunction—neuroscientists must learn its rhythms

Plasticity and place: Study shows a key neural mechanism of remembering locations

A noninvasive treatment for “chemo brain”

New Picower Investigator advances optical methods to study learning and memory

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

Award honors Elly Nedivi’s research on cortical plasticity

Mark Bear wins SfN’s Julius Axelrod Prize

A multifunctional tool for cognitive neuroscience

Study shows how a single neuron’s parallel outputs can coordinate many aspects of behavior

Resolving a seeming contradiction, study advances understanding of visual recognition memory

The Sleeping Brain