Sparse, small, but diverse neural connections help make perception reliable, efficient
First detailed mapping and modeling of thalamus inputs onto visual cortex neurons show brain leverages “wisdom of the crowd” to process sensory information.
Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
New technologies reveal cross-cutting breakdowns in Alzheimer’s disease
“Single-cell profiling” is helping neuroscientists see how disease affects major brain cell types and identify common, potentially targetable pathways.
Holding information in mind may mean storing it among synapses
Comparing models of working memory with real-world data, MIT researchers find information resides not in persistent neural activity, but in the pattern of its connections.
Professor Emeritus Richard Wurtman, influential figure in translational research, dies at 86
Longtime MIT professor of neuroscience led research behind 200 patents, laying the groundwork for numerous medical products.
Small studies of 40-hertz sensory stimulation confirm safety, suggest Alzheimer’s benefits
MIT researchers report early-stage clinical study results of tests with noninvasive 40-hertz light and sound treatment.
Alzheimer’s risk gene undermines insulation of brain’s “wiring”
In people carrying APOE4, a key brain cell mismanages cholesterol needed to insulate neurons properly — another sign APOE4 contributes to disease by disrupting brain lipids.
Are Covid-19 “comas” signs of a protective hibernation state?
Scientists hypothesize that, as in a hibernating turtle, the brain under sedation and deprived of oxygen may assume a protective state.
Five with MIT ties elected to the National Academy of Medicine for 2022
Professors Mark Bear and Laura Kiessling ’83, along with Krishna Shenoy SM ’92, PhD ’95, David Tuveson ’87, and Martin Burke are among the newly elected members.
Celebrating 20 years of discovery, Picower Institute looks ahead to continuing impact
At an exhibition marking two decades since a transformative gift from the Picower Foundation, current and alumni members described research at the forefront of neuroscience and beyond.
Building a bridge between neuroscience and immunology
Gloria Choi’s studies of how the immune system and nervous system influence each other could yield new approaches to treating neurological disorders.
With fractured genomes, Alzheimer’s neurons call for help
Study indicates ailing neurons may instigate an inflammatory response from the brain’s microglia immune cells.
Providing new pathways for neuroscience research and education
Payton Dupuis finds new scientific interests and career opportunities through MIT summer research program in biology.
A “golden era” to study the brain
“We can’t think of the brain only as neurons,” says PhD student Mitch Murdock, who explores the cellular basis of Alzheimer’s disease.
Study reveals how environment and state are integrated to control behavior
A simple animal model shows how stimuli and states such as smells, stressors, and satiety converge in an olfactory neuron to guide food-seeking behavior.
How the brain focuses on what’s in mind
When holding information in mind, neural activity is more focused when and where there are bursts of gamma frequency rhythms.