The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

We are heartbroken to have lost our founder, who provided so much inspiration, but we are all honored to carry on the science he loved so much. https://picower.mit.edu/news/picower-professor-susumu-tonegawa-renowned-molecular-biologist-and-nobel-laureate-dies-86

Picower Professor Susumu Tonegawa, renowned molecular biologist and Nobel laureate, dies at 86 Tonegawa made landmark discoveries about how the immune system generates antibody diversity and how the brain forms memories.

Electric fields help guide neural activity, even from moment to moment. A new study in Cerebral Cortex adds evidence that electric fields in the brain help to organize and shape underlying neural activity via “ephaptic coupling.”
News: https://picower.mit.edu/news/electric-fields-help-guide-neural-activity-even-moment-moment
Study: https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article/36/6/bhag098/8726032?searchresult=1

How do brains integrate sensory evidence over minutes to generate adaptive behaviors? A new Flavell lab preprint identifies C. elegans circuits that integrate aversive smells during foraging to control specific behavioral responses. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.04.729906v1

Combining insights from the debates of American civics to the discoveries of neuroscience labs, experts honed in on ways that brain science research could inform efforts to improve political participation and dialogue in a polarized age

Symposium speakers examine how understanding the brain could improve the functioning of democracy Combining insights from the debates of American civics to the discoveries of neuroscience labs, experts honed in on ways that brain science research could inform efforts to improve political participation and dialogue in a polarized age

Congratulations to three students in Picower labs who have earned MIT HEALS Graduate Fellowships! Jessie Xiao (studying alpha synuclein in Parkinson's disease), Evan Ruesch (developing tools for optical physiology), & Emma Ibanez (studying sensory neurons in reproductive system).

Myriam Heiman named the director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. Heiman, who studies neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, will lead the institute beginning July 1. https://picower.mit.edu/news/myriam-heiman-named-director-picower-institute-learning-and-memory
“I am honored to take on this role to support the Institute’s exceptional scientists and trainees as they pursue discoveries that deepen our understanding of the brain and improve human health,” Heiman says. MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Join the next webinar to hear new insights on the unique way somatostatin neurons integrate into cortical circuitry during development and contribute to healthy cortical function.

Register now 🔗: https://vist.ly/53t84

Congratulations to Professor Emery N. Brown, who this morning received an honorary doctorate of medical sciences Yale University in recognition of his , statistics and anesthesiology research.