Brain and Cognitive Sciences

MIT engineers have devised a way to automate the process of monitoring neurons in a living brain using a computer algorithm that analyzes microscope images and guides a robotic arm to the target cell. In this image, a pipette guided by a robotic arm approaches a neuron identified with a fluorescent stain.

Robotic system monitors specific neurons

Success rate is comparable to that of highly trained scientists performing the process manually.

August 30, 2017

MIT neuroscientists have shown, for the first time, that recalling a memory requires a “detour” circuit that branches off from the original memory circuit. This low-magnification image shows that hippocampal CA1 neurons (red) and dorsal subiculum neurons (green) can be genetically identified using two different protein markers.

How we recall the past

Neuroscientists discover a brain circuit dedicated to retrieving memories.

August 17, 2017

Feng Zhang to share Albany Medical Prize

Five recipients honored for their fundamental and complementary accomplishments related to CRISPR-Cas9.

August 15, 2017

MIT researchers have demonstrated a new way to reverse memory loss by blocking an enzyme known as HDAC2.

Blocking a key enzyme may reverse memory loss

MIT study suggests a new approach to developing treatments for Alzheimer’s disease.

August 8, 2017

A new technique for imaging biopsy samples relies on an approach known as expansion microscopy, in which the researchers expand a tissue sample to 100 times its original volume before imaging it.

Microscopy technique could enable more informative biopsies

Expanding tissue samples before imaging offers detailed information about disease.

July 17, 2017

Researchers have developed a way to label neurons when they become active, essentially providing a snapshot of their activity at a moment in time.

New tool offers snapshots of neuron activity

FLARE technique can reveal which cells respond during different tasks.

June 26, 2017

Brain regions that grew significantly thicker in reading-disabled children whose reading improved after an intensive summer treatment program, as shown in the red and yellow areas. Neither a control group nor children who did not respond to treatment exhibited changes in brain structure.”

Socioeconomic background linked to reading improvement

Dyslexic children from lower-income families benefit more from summer reading intervention.

June 11, 2017

A GelSight sensor attached to a robot’s gripper enables the robot to determine precisely where it has grasped a small screwdriver, removing it from and inserting it back into a slot, even when the gripper screens the screwdriver from the robot’s camera.

Giving robots a sense of touch

GelSight technology lets robots gauge objects’ hardness and manipulate small tools.

June 5, 2017

A brain slice that shows the hippocampus cells that were activated by the new stimulation technique (bottom image, lighter green areas on the left)

A noninvasive method for deep brain stimulation

Electrodes placed on the scalp could help patients with brain diseases.

June 1, 2017

Michale Fee receives Fundamental Science Investigator Award

Award will support studies into how the brain learns and generates complex sequential behaviors, with a focus on the songbird as a model system.

May 19, 2017

Brain circuit enables split-second decisions when cues conflict

New findings shed light on how we quickly assess risks and rewards before acting.

April 24, 2017

By expanding brain tissue twice, researchers were able to obtain high-resolution images of neurons in the hippocampus.

High-resolution imaging with conventional microscopes

Tissue-expansion technique could allow scientists to map brain circuits.

April 17, 2017

Most applications of deep learning use “convolutional” neural networks, in which the nodes of each layer are clustered, the clusters overlap, and each cluster feeds data to multiple nodes (orange and green) of the next layer.

Explained: Neural networks

Ballyhooed artificial-intelligence technique known as “deep learning” revives 70-year-old idea.

April 14, 2017

Mobileye co-founder Amnon Shashua PhD '93 delivered a lecture on autonomous driving at MIT on March 27.

Looking ahead to the future of computer-driven cars

Amnon Shashua PhD ’93, co-founder of Mobileye, discusses challenges associated with autonomous vehicles in MIT visit.

April 13, 2017

MIT professors James Collins (left) and Feng Zhang are co-authors of a new paper reporting that an RNA-targeting CRISPR enzyme can be harnessed as a highly sensitive detector able to indicate the presence of as little as a single molecule of a target RNA or DNA.

Scientists unveil CRISPR-based diagnostic platform

New system adapts tool known for gene editing; to be used in rapid, inexpensive disease diagnosis.