Research Topics

As this gallery of featured people and projects illustrates, Picower Institute scientists study brain structure and function at scales from genes and molecules to cells, circuits and regions. They also study the behaviors and cognitive processes that result, and seek to uncover how disruptions at different scales can result in developmental, psychiatric or neurodegenerative disorders. They employ—and often invent—the newest technologies in their work. To learn more about any of these specific areas, click "Research Topics" above, select areas of interest, and you'll find relevant Picower people, discoveries and events.

Picower Professor of Neuroscience

The Tsai lab is interested in elucidating the pathogenic mechanisms underlying neurological disorders that impact learning and memory by taking a multidisciplinary approach to investigate the molecular, cellular, and circuit basis of neurodegenerative disorders.

Research Areas

Alzheimer's dementia, Down syndrome, Single Cell Transcriptomics and Epigenomics, iPSCs, Brain Rhythms, Neuroimmune interactions, myelination, ApoE, lipid metabolism, Neuronal DNA damage

September 9, 2026

Research Findings

Making a decision requires juggling a set of options without getting them confused or losing track of them. A new MIT study shows how ensembles of neurons encode information to maximize clarity throughout the process.

September 1, 2026

Research Findings

A new study reveals insights into populations of neurons affected by Huntington’s disease, schizophrenia, addiction, and other disorders.

August 19, 2026

Research Findings

The brain's ability to generate quick, nimble volitional thought—and a unified awareness of thought and experience—arises from analog computations carried out by electrical waves, MIT neuroscientists argue in a new review

August 17, 2026

Research Findings

Neuroscientists have discovered circuits in the prefrontal cortex that can be repurposed to store different types of information.

August 13, 2026

Research Findings

With the tough job of trying to keep track of what’s going on in front of it, the brain relies not only on what it sees, but also a comparison with what it just saw. A new study in mice pinpoints the circuit that provides that service.

July 29, 2026

New Research

Observations conflict about whether hormone replacement therapy increases or decreases Alzheimer’s likelihood for women. With a new award from the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, MIT researchers will investigate the underlying molecular mechanisms aff

July 20, 2026

Picower People

Brown, a renowned neuroscientist, anesthesiologist and statistician, has made numerous seminal contributions to basic science and clinical care alike. He joins two other professors in earning the honor this year

July 15, 2026

Picower People

Tonegawa made landmark discoveries about how the immune system generates antibody diversity and how the brain forms memories.

May 14, 2026

Research Findings

Brain cells take in many signals through thousands of circuit connections. A new study in mice discerns the rules that turn what could be a cacophony of inputs into a functional arrangement for neurons that process vision.

April 20, 2026

Research Findings

Neural interaction with bacteria, e.g. in the gut microbiome, has important effects on brains of animals from worms to people. A new study investigates how neurons sense bacteria by revealing, in nematodes, the bacterial signals that a key neuron detects

April 14, 2026

Research Findings

Using advanced human cell cultures to model Rett syndrome, MIT researchers tracked how two different mutations alter neural circuit development and how each could be addressed with distinct potential therapeutics

Li-Huei Tsai

How the brain keeps its options straight at decision time

Atlas of the brain’s striatum could guide researchers to new drug treatments

Cognition and consciousness arise from analog computations, says new theory

Flexible brain circuits can switch between different tasks

Brain circuit keeps tabs on what just happened to aid judgement of what’s happening now

With Mass. Women’s Health Award, team will study how Alzheimer’s risk varies with hormone replacement

MIT names Emery N. Brown an "Institute Professor," its highest faculty honor

Picower Professor Susumu Tonegawa, renowned molecular biologist and Nobel laureate, dies at 86

The rules neurons follow to make sense of what we see

How neurons sense bacteria in the gut

Rett syndrome study highlights potential for personalized treatments