Neurotechnology Research

Activity Sensors

To understand role of neurons and the circuits in which they participate neuroscientists must be able to gather data on a neuron’s electrical activity, such as when they fire, in real-time. Picower scientists are constantly innovating new genetic and chemical sensors, as well as electronic and imaging-based means to track neural activity both in vitro and in vivo and develop sophisticated means to analyze the large volumes of data gathered.

Linlin Fan

Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
The goal of the Fan Lab is to decipher the neural codes underlying learning and memory and to identify the physical basis of learning and memory. In this work, the lab innovates and employs all-optical techniques to read out and manipulate neural circuits.

Steven Flavell

HHMI Investigator
Neural operations occur in milliseconds, yet the brain generates behaviors that can last hours. Flavell’s lab studies how neural circuits generate sustained behavioral states, and how physiological and environmental information is integrated into these circuits.

Troy Littleton

Menicon Professor in Neuroscience
Littleton studies how neurons form synaptic connections, how synapses transmit information, and how synapses change during learning and memory. The research combines molecular biology, protein biochemistry, electrophysiology, and imaging approaches with Drosophila genetics.

Study suggests how the brain, with sleep, learns meaningful maps of spaces

December 10, 2024
Research Findings
Place cells are well known to encode individual locations, but new experiments and analysis indicate that stitching together a “cognitive map” of a whole environment requires a broader ensemble of cells, aided by sleep, to build a richer network over seve

Open technology platform enables new versatility for neuroscience research with more naturalistic behavior

November 13, 2024
Research Findings
System developed by MIT and Open Ephys team provides a fast, light, standardized means for combining multiple instruments with minimal hindrance of lab mouse mobility.

Research quantifying “nociception” could help improve management of surgical pain

September 23, 2024
Research Findings
New statistical models based on rigorous physiological data from more than 100 surgeries provide objective, accurate measures of “nociception,” the body’s subconscious perception of pain.

Livestreaming the Brain

March 15, 2024
Research Feature
To learn how the brain works, Picower Institute labs are advancing technologies and methods to watch it live as it happens

A multifunctional tool for cognitive neuroscience

October 20, 2023
Research Findings
A flexible new tool both monitors and manipulates neural activity in the brains of large animals.

Fundamental questions find advanced answers, approaches at Fall Symposium

October 18, 2019
Events
Experts from around the world discuss "Neural Mechanisms of Memory and Cognition"

New algorithm finds neural spikes in flashing lights

July 10, 2019
Research findings
‘GDspike’ a new option for estimating neural activity from calcium fluorescence

Neurotechnology provides real-time readouts of where rats think they are

December 4, 2018
Research findings
Open-source system provides for fast, accurate neural decoding

Innovations giving neuroscientists exciting new ways to gain insights, symposium speakers say

October 25, 2018
Recent Events
Experts show advances in microscopy, tissue engineering, reporters of brain activity

New tool offers snapshots of neuron activity

June 26, 2017
Neurotechnology
FLARE technique can reveal which cells respond during different tasks.

Brain Imaging

In many ways, Picower Institute neuroscientists are explorers for whom new ways to see inside the brain are essential for finding answers to their questions about how the brain works at scales ranging from synapses to whole networks. Researchers at the institute doesn’t just apply the latest imaging techniques, it often creates new technologies to make imaging better.

Brady Weissbourd

Assistant Professor of Biology
Brady Weissbourd uses jellyfish to study nervous system evolution, development, regeneration, and function.

Elly Nedivi

William R. (1964) & Linda R. Young Professor of Neuroscience
Nedivi’s lab investigates the cellular mechanisms of activity-dependent plasticity through studies of synaptic and neuronal remodeling, identification of participating genes, and characterization of the cellular functions of the proteins they encode.

Emery N. Brown

Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Medical Engineering and Computational Neuroscience
Brown lab research contributes to understanding the neuroscience of how anesthetics act in the brain to create the states of general anesthesia. Brown has developed signal processing algorithms to solve important data analysis challenges in neuroscience.

Kwanghun Chung

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Neuroscience
Chung’s interdisciplinary research team develops technologies for holistic understanding of large-scale complex biological systems. Methods including CLARTIY, MAP and SWITCH enable identification of multi-scale functional networks and interrogation of their system-wide, multifactorial interactions.

Laura Lewis

Athinoula A. Martinos Associate Professor, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Lewis develops multimodal approaches for imaging the human brain, and applies them to study the neural circuitry that controls sleep, and the consequences of sleep for brain function.

Linlin Fan

Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
The goal of the Fan Lab is to decipher the neural codes underlying learning and memory and to identify the physical basis of learning and memory. In this work, the lab innovates and employs all-optical techniques to read out and manipulate neural circuits.

Mriganka Sur

Newton Professor of Neuroscience
The goal of the Sur laboratory is to understand long-term plasticity and short-term dynamics in circuits of the developing and adult cortex, and to utilize this understanding to discover mechanisms underlying disorders of brain development.

Troy Littleton

Menicon Professor in Neuroscience
Littleton studies how neurons form synaptic connections, how synapses transmit information, and how synapses change during learning and memory. The research combines molecular biology, protein biochemistry, electrophysiology, and imaging approaches with Drosophila genetics.

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

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.

With programmable pixels, novel sensor improves imaging of neural activity

June 7, 2024
Research Findings
New camera chip design allows for optimizing each pixel’s timing to maximize signal to noise ratio when tracking real-time visual indicator of neural voltage

Microscope system sharpens scientists’ view of neural circuit connections

June 4, 2024
Research Findings
A newly described technology improves the clarity and speed of using two-photon microscopy to image synapses in the live brain

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

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.

Livestreaming the Brain

March 15, 2024
Research Feature
To learn how the brain works, Picower Institute labs are advancing technologies and methods to watch it live as it happens

New Picower Investigator advances optical methods to study learning and memory

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.

Award honors Elly Nedivi’s research on cortical plasticity

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

Cracking the code that relates brain and behavior in a simple animal

August 21, 2023
Research Findings
MIT researchers model and map how neurons across the tiny brain of a C. elegans worm encode its behaviors, revealing many new insights about the robustness and flexibility of its nervous system

Fluid flow in the brain can be manipulated by sensory stimulation

April 10, 2023
Research Findings
Blood flow induced by visual stimulation drives the flow of cerebrospinal fluid

Astrocyte cells critical for learning skilled movements

March 10, 2023
Research Findings
When astrocyte function is disrupted, neurons in the brain’s motor cortex struggle to execute and refine motion, a new study in mice shows.

Researchers map brain cell changes in Alzheimer’s disease

February 2, 2023
Study reveals key cell structures and gene expression changes near amyloid plaques and tau tangles in mouse brain tissue

Providing new pathways for neuroscience research and education

September 29, 2022
Picower People
Payton Dupuis finds new scientific interests and career opportunities through MIT summer research program in biology.

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

At a research forefront, young scholar looks ahead to graduate school, chance to mentor others

August 15, 2022
Picower People
As he works to solve an advanced problem at the intersection of computing and neurobiology, Picower Institute post-baccalaureate scholar Eric Bueno is also thinking of how he could pay his experience forward

Advanced imaging reveals mired migration of neurons in Rett syndrome lab models

July 29, 2022
Research Findings
Using organoids to model early development, researchers used an emerging microscopy technology to see that new neurons struggled to reach their developmental destination

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

Feast or forage: Study finds circuit that helps a brain decide

November 22, 2021
Research Findings
By integrating multiple sensory inputs, a loop of mutual inhibition among a small set of neurons allows worms to switch between long-lasting behavioral states

Playing chess, not checkers: Neurons dynamically control their myelin patterns

December 18, 2020
Research Findings
Researchers identify a new level of complexity in how the brain responds to stimuli

Live imaging method brings structural information to mapping of brain function

September 17, 2020
Research Findings
Scientists distinguish brain regions based on what they do, but now have a new way to overlay information about how they are built

Dopamine signaling allows neural circuits to generate coordinated behaviors

June 11, 2020
Research Findings
As part of study, team invents new open-source microscopy platform

Technology makes tissues elastic and lasting for easier imaging

May 18, 2020
Research Findings
By making brain and other tissues reversibly stretchable or compressible, ELAST allows labeling probes to infuse more quickly

‘Researching from Home’: Picower science stays strong even at a distance

April 1, 2020
News Feature
Institute researchers are advancing their work in many ways despite time away from the lab required to corral Covid-19

Look and Learn: Studying the visual system

March 13, 2020
Research Feature
Research on how the brain processes sight has told neuroscientists much about how the brain works more broadly

With sophisticated tools in a simple model, scientists aim to learn how serotonin modulates behavior

February 20, 2020
New Research
New NIH grant funds study that will span receptors, cells, the whole brain and behavior

How brain cells pick which connections to keep

August 6, 2019
Research findings
Novel study shows protein CPG15 acts as a molecular proxy of experience to mark synapses for stabilization

MIT Alum's six newly installed paintings seek to investigate, inspire

May 14, 2019
Science and the Arts
Todd Siler 'A.R.T.strings' series donated to Picower Institute by D.A. Duke

Scope advance reveals first look through all cortical layers of awake brain

January 11, 2019
Research findings
Refinement of three-photon microscopy allows unprecendented neuroscience

Chung leads collaboration to make the best brain map yet

January 2, 2019
News Feature
Project will reveal the entire human brain, down to subcellular features

Mapping the brain, cell by cell, with SHIELD

December 17, 2018
Research findings
Technique for preserving tissue allows researchers to create maps of neural circuits with single-cell resolution

Dozens from Picower present research at SfN

November 13, 2018
Recent Events
Researchers take part in field's largest annual exchange of ideas

Innovations giving neuroscientists exciting new ways to gain insights, symposium speakers say

October 25, 2018
Recent Events
Experts show advances in microscopy, tissue engineering, reporters of brain activity

The Developing Brain

July 11, 2018
News feature
Development research yields discoveries, insights, innovations

With new grant, MIT neuroscientists will give 'invisible' cells a new look

February 8, 2018
New research
Astrocytes may 'partner' with neurons to process information

New tool offers snapshots of neuron activity

June 26, 2017
Neurotechnology
FLARE technique can reveal which cells respond during different tasks.

Imaging the brain at multiple size scales

July 25, 2016
Neurotechnology
New technique can reveal subcellular details and long-range connections.

Brain Stimulation

Methods and technologies including deep-brain stimulation and non-invasive sensory stimulation that can affect local or system-wide electrical and network activity in the brain. Examples include DBS in Parkinson's disease or 40Hz light, sound and vibration as a potential intervention for Alzheimer's disease.

Earl K. Miller

Picower Professor of Neuroscience
Miller’s lab studies the neural mechanisms of attention, learning, and memory needed for voluntary, goal-directed behavior. The lab explores prefrontal function by employing a variety of techniques including multiple-electrode neurophysiology, psychophysics, pharmacological manipulations, and computational techniques.

Emery N. Brown

Edward Hood Taplin Professor of Medical Engineering and Computational Neuroscience
Brown lab research contributes to understanding the neuroscience of how anesthetics act in the brain to create the states of general anesthesia. Brown has developed signal processing algorithms to solve important data analysis challenges in neuroscience.

Li-Huei Tsai

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.

Study assesses seizure risk from stimulating thalamus

August 21, 2024
Research Findings
In awake mice, researchers found that even low stimulation currents could sometimes still cause electrographic seizures

Study reveals ways in which 40Hz sensory stimulation may preserve brain’s ‘white matter’

August 8, 2024
Research Findings
MIT scientists report that gamma frequency light and sound stimulation preserves myelination in mouse models and reveal molecular mechanisms that may underlie the benefit.

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

March 27, 2024
Picower Events
Alana Down Syndrome Center team recruiting volunteers to test whether 40Hz light and sound stimulation produces cognitive benefits.

A noninvasive treatment for “chemo brain”

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.

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

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.

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

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.

A multifunctional tool for cognitive neuroscience

October 20, 2023
Research Findings
A flexible new tool both monitors and manipulates neural activity in the brains of large animals.

40 Hz vibrations reduce Alzheimer’s pathology, symptoms in mouse models

May 18, 2023
Research Findings
Tactile stimulation improved motor performance, reduced phosphorylated tau, preserved neurons and synapses and reduced DNA damage, a new study shows

Fluid flow in the brain can be manipulated by sensory stimulation

April 10, 2023
Research Findings
Blood flow induced by visual stimulation drives the flow of cerebrospinal fluid

Small studies of 40Hz sensory stimulation confirm safety, suggest Alzheimer’s benefits

December 1, 2022
Research Findings
MIT researchers report early stage clinical study results of tests with non-invasive 40Hz light and sound treatment

To the clinic!

October 4, 2022
Research Feature
When fundamental research yields discoveries with medical potential, Picower Institute professors find ways to test whether they’ll help patients.

Circuit model may explain how deep brain stimulation treats Parkinson’s disease symptoms

May 16, 2022
Research Findings
Stimulation of subthalamic nucleus interrupts a cycle of runaway beta-frequency rhythms and restores ability of interneurons to regulate rhythms in the brain’s striatum, improving movement, study suggests

Anesthesia doesn't simply turn off the brain, it changes its rhythms

April 27, 2021
Research Findings
Simultaneous measurement of neural rhythms and spikes across five brain areas in animals reveals how propofol induces unconsciousness

Down syndrome symposium highlights clinical, fundamental progress

November 20, 2020
Recent Events
Speakers describe studies to address Alzheimer’s disease, sleep apnea and to advance fundamental discoveries in cell and chromosome biology

New trial to test brain wave stimulation as Alzheimer’s preventative

August 25, 2020
New Research
MIT, MGH join forces to test whether ‘GENUS’ stimulation of 40Hz rhythms can reduce disease pathology before onset of symptoms

Scientists eager to explain brain rhythm boost’s broad impact in Alzheimer’s models

December 9, 2019
Research findings
Paper lays out new areas of investigation

In Alzheimer’s research, MIT scientists reveal brain rhythm role

October 22, 2019
At 'SFN'
At Society for Neuroscience meeting, Li-Huei Tsai presents latest findings on sensory stimulation of gamma rhythm

Why visual stimulation may work against Alzheimer’s

May 7, 2019
Research Findings
New findings help explain the surprising discovery that exposure to flickering light reduces amyloid plaques in mice

Deep stimulation improves cognitive control by augmenting brain rhythms

April 4, 2019
Research Findings
Finding could improve development of personalized psychiatric treatments

Brain wave stimulation may improve Alzheimer’s symptoms

March 14, 2019
Research findings
Noninvasive treatment can improve Alzheimer’s symptoms such as memory loss and amyloid plaque buildup in mice.

Tsai earns Hans Wigzell Research Foundation Science Prize

January 23, 2019
Picower People
Award recognizes Alzheimer's disease research

Making waves for health

March 1, 2018
News feature
Innovative insights, methods raise clnical potential of instilling brain waves

A noninvasive method for deep brain stimulation

June 1, 2017
Research Findings
Electrodes placed on the scalp could help patients with brain diseases.

Unique visual stimulation may be new treatment for Alzheimer’s

December 7, 2016
Research Findings
Noninvasive technique reduces beta amyloid plaques in mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.

Genetic Engineering

Biological research often calls for imbuing cells, tissue, or animal models in the lab with specific new capabilities – or disabilities, for instance to observe the differences between altered and unaltered cells. Picower Institute neuroscientists employ advanced techniques such as CRISPR/Cas9, stem cell, and transgenics to conduct such experiments.

Kwanghun Chung

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Neuroscience
Chung’s interdisciplinary research team develops technologies for holistic understanding of large-scale complex biological systems. Methods including CLARTIY, MAP and SWITCH enable identification of multi-scale functional networks and interrogation of their system-wide, multifactorial interactions.

Li-Huei Tsai

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.

Mark Bear

Picower Professor of Neuroscience
Bear’s lab studies how experience and deprivation modify synaptic connections in the brain. Experience-dependent synaptic plasticity is the physical substrate of memory and sculpts connections during postnatal development to determine the capabilities and limitations of brain functions.

Steven Flavell

HHMI Investigator
Neural operations occur in milliseconds, yet the brain generates behaviors that can last hours. Flavell’s lab studies how neural circuits generate sustained behavioral states, and how physiological and environmental information is integrated into these circuits.

Susumu Tonegawa

Picower Professor of Biology and Neuroscience, HHMI Investigator
With cutting-edge neuroscience techniques, the Tonegawa lab unravels the molecular, cellular, and neural circuit mechanisms that underlie learning and memory. Studies bridge basic science and disease models to causally dissect how memory works and breaks down.

Troy Littleton

Menicon Professor in Neuroscience
Littleton studies how neurons form synaptic connections, how synapses transmit information, and how synapses change during learning and memory. The research combines molecular biology, protein biochemistry, electrophysiology, and imaging approaches with Drosophila genetics.

New award funds study of a remarkable example of neural regeneration

July 1, 2023
New Research
A three-year fellowship will support Brady Weissbourd’s research on how the C. hemisphaerica jellyfish survives and thrives by constantly making new neurons.

Genes & Disease

December 14, 2020
Research Feature
Picower scientists are making the dauntingly long but highly motivating climb between associating a gene with disease and developing potential treatments.

Human Models of Disease

December 16, 2019
News Feature
Stem cell, genetic technologies enable sophisticated studies of human brain cells and brain "organoids"

Memory and its meaning

October 7, 2019
News Feature
25 Years of Picower Institute research

BRAIN grant will fund new tools to study astrocytes

August 27, 2019
New Research
Sur lab will lead collaboration to create CRISPR, optogenetic innovations

Speeding up drug discovery for brain diseases

July 31, 2019
Research Findings
Whitehead, Picower team finds drugs that activate a key brain gene; initial tests show promise for rare, untreatable neurodevelopmental disorder

With fellowship, postdoc will work to solve Alzheimer’s myelin mystery

November 8, 2018
Picower People
Joel Blanchard wins 2018 Glenn Foundation for Medical Research Postdoctoral Fellowship in Aging Research

Study suggests method for boosting growth of blood vessels and muscle

March 22, 2018
Research findings
Activating proteins linked to longevity may help to increase endurance and combat frailty in the elderly

Optogenetics

By engineering cells with light-responsive ion channels, optogenetics allow the activity of cells such as neurons to become controlled by pulses of visible light. The technology is widely used throughout the institute in experiments in which purposeful instigation or suppression of neural activity can reveal important data on the functions of cells, circuits, systems, and behaviors.

Ed Boyden

Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology, Howard Hughes Medical Institute and McGovern Institute, Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, Media Arts and Sciences, and Biological Engineering
Ed Boyden's group develops tools for analyzing and repairing complex biological systems such as the brain, and applies them systematically to reveal ground truth principles of biological function as well as to repair these systems.

Li-Huei Tsai

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.

Linlin Fan

Assistant Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
The goal of the Fan Lab is to decipher the neural codes underlying learning and memory and to identify the physical basis of learning and memory. In this work, the lab innovates and employs all-optical techniques to read out and manipulate neural circuits.

Steven Flavell

HHMI Investigator
Neural operations occur in milliseconds, yet the brain generates behaviors that can last hours. Flavell’s lab studies how neural circuits generate sustained behavioral states, and how physiological and environmental information is integrated into these circuits.

Susumu Tonegawa

Picower Professor of Biology and Neuroscience, HHMI Investigator
With cutting-edge neuroscience techniques, the Tonegawa lab unravels the molecular, cellular, and neural circuit mechanisms that underlie learning and memory. Studies bridge basic science and disease models to causally dissect how memory works and breaks down.

Open technology platform enables new versatility for neuroscience research with more naturalistic behavior

November 13, 2024
Research Findings
System developed by MIT and Open Ephys team provides a fast, light, standardized means for combining multiple instruments with minimal hindrance of lab mouse mobility.

Fellowship enables study of how the brain makes memories of places

July 1, 2024
Picower People
With a new Klingenstein-Simons Fellowship in Neuroscience, Assistant Professor Linlin Fan will seek to strengthen understanding of how neural connections change to encode memories of specific locations.

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

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.

New Picower Investigator advances optical methods to study learning and memory

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.

Sprint then stop? Brain is wired for the math to make it happen

July 28, 2022
Research Findings
To ensure a quick halt, brain circuit architecture avoids a slow process of integration in favor of quicker differentiation, study finds

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

Feast or forage: Study finds circuit that helps a brain decide

November 22, 2021
Research Findings
By integrating multiple sensory inputs, a loop of mutual inhibition among a small set of neurons allows worms to switch between long-lasting behavioral states

Neuroscientists identify brain circuit that encodes timing of events

January 11, 2021
Research Findings
Findings suggest this hippocampal circuit helps us to maintain our timeline of memories.

Scientists identify specific brain region and circuits controlling attention

November 2, 2020
Research Findings
Study shows that norepinephrine producing neurons in the locus coeruleus produce attention focus, impulse control via two distinct connections to prefrontal cortex

Neuroscientists find memory cells that help us interpret new situations

April 6, 2020
Research Findings
Neurons that store abstract representations of past experiences are activated when a new, similar event takes place

Memory and its meaning

October 7, 2019
News Feature
25 Years of Picower Institute research

BRAIN grant will fund new tools to study astrocytes

August 27, 2019
New Research
Sur lab will lead collaboration to create CRISPR, optogenetic innovations

Three from MIT elected to the National Academy of Sciences

May 1, 2019
Awards & Honors
Faculty members Edward Boyden, Paula Hammond, and Aviv Regev recognized for “distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.”

How flashing lights and pink noise might banish Alzheimer’s, improve memory and more

February 28, 2018
In the media
Neuroscientists are getting excited about non-invasive procedures to tune the brain’s natural oscillations

MIT neuroscientists build case for new theory of memory formation

October 23, 2017
Research Findings
Existence of “silent engrams” suggests that existing models of memory formation should be revised.

Kay Tye improvises to understand our inner lives

October 4, 2017
Recognition
Tweaking neurons in lab animals could help reveal what makes us individuals

New tool offers snapshots of neuron activity

June 26, 2017
Neurotechnology
FLARE technique can reveal which cells respond during different tasks.

Neuroscientists identify brain circuit necessary for memory formation

April 6, 2017
Research Findings
New findings challenge standard model of memory consolidation.

A delicate balance between positive and negative emotion

October 17, 2016
Research Findings
Neuroscientists identify two neuron populations that encode happy or fearful memories.

Scientists identify neurons devoted to social memory

September 29, 2016
Research Findings
Cells in the hippocampus store memories of acquaintances, a new study reports.

Tissue Processing

To best visualize and study neural tissue, sometimes researchers need to make chemical alterations, for instance to clear away opaque lipids or to label different molecules. Innovative technologies such as CLARITY, MAP, stochastic electrotransport and SWITCH that can make neural tissue optically clear, enlargeable to allow neuroscientists to better image and study the structure of the brain.

Kwanghun Chung

Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering and Neuroscience
Chung’s interdisciplinary research team develops technologies for holistic understanding of large-scale complex biological systems. Methods including CLARTIY, MAP and SWITCH enable identification of multi-scale functional networks and interrogation of their system-wide, multifactorial interactions.

Li-Huei Tsai

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.

Sara Prescott

Pfizer-Laubach Career Development Assistant Professor of Biology
The Prescott Lab explores how visceral cues are transduced, encoded and addressed at internal barrier tissues like the airways

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

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.

Picower postdoc earns Burroughs Wellcome Fund award

June 13, 2023
Picower People
‘Career Award at the Scientific Interface’ recognizes Rebecca Pinals’ research to create a nanosensor-integrated brain-on-a-chip model of Alzheimer’s disease.

Sparse, small, but diverse neural connections help make perception reliable, efficient

February 2, 2023
Research Findings
First detailed mapping and modeling of thalamus inputs onto visual cortex neurons show brain leverages “wisdom of the crowd” to process sensory information

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

Advanced imaging reveals mired migration of neurons in Rett syndrome lab models

July 29, 2022
Research Findings
Using organoids to model early development, researchers used an emerging microscopy technology to see that new neurons struggled to reach their developmental destination

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

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 ‘minibrains,’ hindering key enzyme by different amounts has opposite growth effects

May 10, 2021
Research Findings
Surprising findings can help improve organoid cultures, explain role of GSK3-beta in brain development

Tiny brains grown in 3D-printed bioreactor

April 7, 2021
Research Findings
Small device contains wells to let small bits of tissue grow, develop, and be studied in real time

Study offers an explanation for why the APOE4 gene enhances Alzheimer’s risk

March 3, 2021
Research Findings
The gene variant disrupts lipid metabolism, but in cell experiments the effects were reversed by choline supplements

‘SCOUT’ helps researchers find, quantify significant differences among organoids

December 8, 2020
Research Findings
Unbiased, high-throughput analysis pipeline improves utility of ‘minibrains’ for understanding development and diseases such as Zika infection

Technology makes tissues elastic and lasting for easier imaging

May 18, 2020
Research Findings
By making brain and other tissues reversibly stretchable or compressible, ELAST allows labeling probes to infuse more quickly

Human Models of Disease

December 16, 2019
News Feature
Stem cell, genetic technologies enable sophisticated studies of human brain cells and brain "organoids"

Study pinpoints Alzheimer’s plaque emergence early and deep in the brain

October 4, 2019
Research findings
Amyloid emerges early in deep regions such as the mammillary body and marches outward along specific circuits

Kwanghun Chung wins PECASE

July 3, 2019
Picower People
White House award is highest in nation for young scientists

Chung leads collaboration to make the best brain map yet

January 2, 2019
News Feature
Project will reveal the entire human brain, down to subcellular features

Mapping the brain, cell by cell, with SHIELD

December 17, 2018
Research findings
Technique for preserving tissue allows researchers to create maps of neural circuits with single-cell resolution

Innovations giving neuroscientists exciting new ways to gain insights, symposium speakers say

October 25, 2018
Recent Events
Experts show advances in microscopy, tissue engineering, reporters of brain activity

Neuroscientists discover roles of gene linked to Alzheimer’s

May 31, 2018
Research Findings
Study reveals why people with the APOE4 gene have higher risk of the disease

Lifting the veil on ‘valence,’ brain study reveals roots of desire, dislike

January 23, 2018
Research Findings
Research reveals inner workings of amygdala, which assigns feelings to experiences

Kwanghun Chung receives NIH New Innovator Award

October 13, 2016
Awards
Award will support the development of technologies that can enable a better understanding of complex biological systems.