The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

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.

The rules neurons follow to make sense of what we see. A new study in mice by the lab of Mriganak Sur discerns the rules that neurons use to turn what could be a cacophony of input into a functional arrangement for processing vision.
News: https://picower.mit.edu/news/rules-neurons-follow-make-sense-what-we-see
Open access study in led by Kyle Jenks: https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)01236-8

The rules neurons follow to make sense of what we see 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.

Read a fascinating new interview in Nautilus with Earl Miller and Lisa Feldman Barrett based on their new paper in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, "Categorization is 'baked' into the brain."

How Does Your Brain Know a Cat Is a Cat? How Does Your Brain Know a Cat Is a Cat?: A conversation with renowned neuroscientists Lisa Feldman Barrett and Earl Miller about categories, “folk psychology,” beginner’s mind, and thinking fast and slow

AI for Alzheimer's: FINGERS-7B integrates lifestyle, clinical, genomic, and proteomic data from tens of thousands of at-risk individuals to discover multi-omic biomarkers for preclinical Alzheimer's

MIT-based team releases first AI foundation model for Alzheimer's prevention FINGERS-7B integrates lifestyle, clinical, genomic, and proteomic data from tens of thousands of at-risk individuals to discover multi-omic biomarkers for preclinical Alzheimer's

How neurons sense bacteria in the gut: To understsand the mechanisms that enable the bacterial microbiome to influence brain function, a new study examines them at work in a model “bacterial specialist,” C. elegans.
News: https://picower.mit.edu/news/how-neurons-sense-bacteria-gut
Study: https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(26)00390-8

A new study of Rett syndrome highlights potential for personalized treatment. MIT researchers tracked how two different mutations alter neural circuit development in organoids and how each could be addressed with distinct potential therapeutics. Work led by Tatsuya Osaki in the lab of Mriganka Sur.
News: https://picower.mit.edu/news/rett-syndrome-study-highlights-potential-personalized-treatments
Study: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-026-71458-0
MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Rett syndrome study highlights potential for personalized treatments 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

At the Alana Down Syndrome Center at MIT's online symposium last week, 7 researchers from MIT, Rutgers University and the University of São Paulo shared the work they are doing to help people with trisomy 21 throughout their lifespan. https://picower.mit.edu/news/alana-down-syndrome-center-symposium-highlights-studies-brain-heart MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences MIT Department of Biology

Alana Down Syndrome Center symposium highlights studies from brain to heart Seven researchers from MIT, Rutgers University and the University of São Paulo shared the research they are doing to help people with trisomy 21 throughout their lifespan.

A new paper in Nature Reviews Neuroscience by Earl Miller and Lisa Feldman Barrett challenges decades of dogma about how and why the brain boils down what it sees, hears, smells, tastes and feels into categories.
News: https://picower.mit.edu/news/complete-rethinking-how-our-brains-use-categories-make-sense-world
Paper: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41583-026-01036-2
MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences Northeastern University