The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT
@picowerinstitute.bsky.social
A community of more than 250 MIT researchers dedicated to understanding the fundamental mechanisms of how the brain works and applying that insight to disease.
Heard at #SfN25 from @earlkmiller.bsky.social: Cognition and consciousness emerge from the dynamic organization of the cortex produced by traveling brain waves performing analog computations. picower.mit.edu/news/brain-w... #neuroscience #consciousness #cognition @mitbcs.bsky.social
Brain waves’ analog organization of cortex enables cognition and consciousness, MIT professor proposes at SfN
On neuroscience’s big stage Nov. 15, MIT Professor Earl K. Miller proposed that thought and consciousness emerge from the fast and flexible organization of the cortex produced by the analog computatio...
picower.mit.edu
November 16, 2025 at 4:24 AM
Heard at #SfN25 from @earlkmiller.bsky.social: Cognition and consciousness emerge from the dynamic organization of the cortex produced by traveling brain waves performing analog computations. picower.mit.edu/news/brain-w... #neuroscience #consciousness #cognition @mitbcs.bsky.social
In 2023 the lab of Steve Flavell modeled and mapped how neurons across the brain of a C. elegans worm encode its behaviors. Excited to see that paper now featured here: www.thetransmitter.org/community/th... by @thetransmitter.bsky.social #neuroscience
The buzziest neuroscience papers of 2023, 2024
The field took note of work on brain-computer interfaces for speech, the mechanism of psychedelics, defining hippocampal representations, and more.
www.thetransmitter.org
November 15, 2025 at 6:13 PM
In 2023 the lab of Steve Flavell modeled and mapped how neurons across the brain of a C. elegans worm encode its behaviors. Excited to see that paper now featured here: www.thetransmitter.org/community/th... by @thetransmitter.bsky.social #neuroscience
Reposted by The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT
One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Engineered 3D immuno-glial-neurovascular human miBrain model.” Explore the article here: https://ow.ly/q1U350XmIwf
For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/sweo50XmIw6.
For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/sweo50XmIw6.
November 4, 2025 at 7:31 PM
One of the most-viewed PNAS articles in the last week is “Engineered 3D immuno-glial-neurovascular human miBrain model.” Explore the article here: https://ow.ly/q1U350XmIwf
For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/sweo50XmIw6.
For more trending articles, visit https://ow.ly/sweo50XmIw6.
We’re proud to be part of this new @broadinstitute.org effort! In this Q&A Picower researchers Sara Prescott and Ravi Raju describe the project, how they’re involved, and the research they’re doing: picower.mit.edu/news/qa-pico...
November 4, 2025 at 4:29 PM
We’re proud to be part of this new @broadinstitute.org effort! In this Q&A Picower researchers Sara Prescott and Ravi Raju describe the project, how they’re involved, and the research they’re doing: picower.mit.edu/news/qa-pico...
To get back on track after a distraction, the brain appears to employ a rotating traveling wave, a new study by the lab of @earlkmiller.bsky.social finds. picower.mit.edu/news/after-d... @mitbcs.bsky.social #neuroscience #cognition
After distractions, rotating brain waves may help thought circle back to the task
To get back on track after a distraction, the cortex appears to employ a rotating traveling wave, a new study by MIT neuroscientists finds.
picower.mit.edu
October 31, 2025 at 12:49 PM
To get back on track after a distraction, the brain appears to employ a rotating traveling wave, a new study by the lab of @earlkmiller.bsky.social finds. picower.mit.edu/news/after-d... @mitbcs.bsky.social #neuroscience #cognition
New research shows attention lapses due to sleep deprivation coincide with a flushing of fluid from the brain — a process that normally occurs during sleep. news.mit.edu/2025/your-br...
This is your brain without sleep
An MIT study reveals what happens in the brain as lapses of attention occur following sleep deprivation. During these lapses, a wave of cerebrospinal fluid flows out of the brain — a process that typi...
news.mit.edu
October 29, 2025 at 3:21 PM
New research shows attention lapses due to sleep deprivation coincide with a flushing of fluid from the brain — a process that normally occurs during sleep. news.mit.edu/2025/your-br...
At our Fall Symposium, "Circuits of Survival and Homeostasis," seven speakers from around the country convened to describe some of the latest research on the neural mechanisms that we need to survive and thrive. picower.mit.edu/news/symposi... #neuroscience
@mitbcs.bsky.social
@mitbcs.bsky.social
Symposium examines the neural circuits that keep us alive and well
Seven speakers from around the country convened at MIT to describe some of the latest research on the neural mechanisms that we need to survive.
picower.mit.edu
October 28, 2025 at 3:21 PM
At our Fall Symposium, "Circuits of Survival and Homeostasis," seven speakers from around the country convened to describe some of the latest research on the neural mechanisms that we need to survive and thrive. picower.mit.edu/news/symposi... #neuroscience
@mitbcs.bsky.social
@mitbcs.bsky.social
📃Three late-onset #Alzheimers patients who received 40Hz sensory stimulation for ~2 years performed significantly better on several assessments than comparable AD patients outside MIT's clinical study of the potential therapy. picower.mit.edu/news/small-s... #neuroscience @mitbcs.bsky.social
Small study suggests 40Hz sensory stimulation may benefit some Alzheimer’s patients for years
Five volunteers continued receiving 40Hz stimulation for around two years after an early-stage MIT clinical study. Those with late-onset Alzheimer’s performed significantly better on assessments than ...
picower.mit.edu
October 27, 2025 at 1:12 PM
📃Three late-onset #Alzheimers patients who received 40Hz sensory stimulation for ~2 years performed significantly better on several assessments than comparable AD patients outside MIT's clinical study of the potential therapy. picower.mit.edu/news/small-s... #neuroscience @mitbcs.bsky.social
Excited that an MIT-based team is one of 10 (out of ~200) to advance to the semi-finals! Learn about our project, FINGERPRINT: An agentic AI that will link discovery, prevention and therapy by reasoning across multiple biological and clinical data sets. picower.mit.edu/news/mit-bas...
MIT-based team advances to semi-finals of Gates-funded competition to apply ’agentic’ AI to studying Alzheimer’s
“FINGERPRINT,” proposes to use AI to link discovery, prevention, therapy by reasoning across multiple biological and clinical data sets.
picower.mit.edu
October 21, 2025 at 9:00 PM
Excited that an MIT-based team is one of 10 (out of ~200) to advance to the semi-finals! Learn about our project, FINGERPRINT: An agentic AI that will link discovery, prevention and therapy by reasoning across multiple biological and clinical data sets. picower.mit.edu/news/mit-bas...
Reposted by The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT
New paper: Working memory readout varies with frontal theta rhythms. A theta traveling wave swept across the frontal cortex like radar, modulating performance of a working memory task. Because cognition is rhythmic.
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience @picowerinstitute.bsky.social
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience @picowerinstitute.bsky.social
Working memory readout varies with frontal theta rhythms
Han et al. show that frontal theta oscillations rhythmically control access to working
memory. The theta rhythm sweeps across the mental image, shaping behavior by coordinating
spikes and beta oscilla...
www.cell.com
October 20, 2025 at 3:06 PM
New paper: Working memory readout varies with frontal theta rhythms. A theta traveling wave swept across the frontal cortex like radar, modulating performance of a working memory task. Because cognition is rhythmic.
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience @picowerinstitute.bsky.social
www.cell.com/neuron/abstr...
#neuroscience @picowerinstitute.bsky.social
When spotting what’s changed from one scene to the next, performance will depend on a low-frequency “theta” brain wave that scans the mental image, a new MIT study in @cp-neuron.bsky.social shows. picower.mit.edu/news/radar-b... #neuroscience #cognition
Like radar, a brain wave sweeps a cortical region to read out information held in working memory
When spotting what’s changed from one scene to the next, performance will depend on a low-frequency “theta” brain wave that scans the mental image, a new MIT study shows.
picower.mit.edu
October 20, 2025 at 3:10 PM
When spotting what’s changed from one scene to the next, performance will depend on a low-frequency “theta” brain wave that scans the mental image, a new MIT study in @cp-neuron.bsky.social shows. picower.mit.edu/news/radar-b... #neuroscience #cognition
Cultured from induced pluripotent stem cells, ‘miBrains’ integrate all major brain cell types and model brain structures, cellular interactions, activity, and pathological features. picower.mit.edu/news/mit-inv... #neuroscience
MIT invents human brain model with six major cell types to enable personalized disease research, drug discovery
Cultured from induced pluripotent stem cells, ‘miBrains’ integrate all major brain cell types and model brain structures, cellular interactions, activity, and pathological features.
picower.mit.edu
October 17, 2025 at 7:20 PM
Cultured from induced pluripotent stem cells, ‘miBrains’ integrate all major brain cell types and model brain structures, cellular interactions, activity, and pathological features. picower.mit.edu/news/mit-inv... #neuroscience
MIT neuroscientists show in a new study that loops of RNA can strongly influence how neurons build circuit connections, or synapses, during the development of the visual system in young mice. picower.mit.edu/news/study-f... #neuroscience @mitbcs.bsky.social
Study finds circular RNA helps drive brain development
MIT neuroscientists show in a new study that loops of RNA can strongly influence how neurons build circuit connections, or synapses, during the development of the visual system in young mice.
picower.mit.edu
October 16, 2025 at 2:23 PM
MIT neuroscientists show in a new study that loops of RNA can strongly influence how neurons build circuit connections, or synapses, during the development of the visual system in young mice. picower.mit.edu/news/study-f... #neuroscience @mitbcs.bsky.social
MIT scientists have discovered how neural activity helps brain circuit connections become tuned to the right size and degree of signal transmission in fruit fly models.
picower.mit.edu/news/neural-...
#neuroscience
picower.mit.edu/news/neural-...
#neuroscience
Neural activity helps circuit connections mature into optimal signal transmitters
By carefully tracking the formation and maturation of synaptic active zones in fruit flies, MIT scientists have discovered how neural activity helps circuit connections become tuned to the right size ...
picower.mit.edu
October 14, 2025 at 5:57 PM
MIT scientists have discovered how neural activity helps brain circuit connections become tuned to the right size and degree of signal transmission in fruit fly models.
picower.mit.edu/news/neural-...
#neuroscience
picower.mit.edu/news/neural-...
#neuroscience
🧠A week from today, join us at MIT for "Circuits of Survival and Homeostasis." It will be a fascinating day of talks about the links between body and brain. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
October 14, 2025 at 1:26 PM
🧠A week from today, join us at MIT for "Circuits of Survival and Homeostasis." It will be a fascinating day of talks about the links between body and brain. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Our labs' studies have revealed a number of ways moods emerge in the brain and therefore are providing potential paths to address depression, PTSD, anxiety and bipolar disorder. Learn more in our Fall newsletter cover story. picower.mit.edu/news/many-me...
#neuroscience #depression #anxiety #bipolar
#neuroscience #depression #anxiety #bipolar
Many Mechanisms of Mood
Picower Institute studies reveal a number of ways moods emerge in the brain and therefore many potential paths to address depression, PTSD, anxiety and bipolar disorder.
picower.mit.edu
October 7, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Our labs' studies have revealed a number of ways moods emerge in the brain and therefore are providing potential paths to address depression, PTSD, anxiety and bipolar disorder. Learn more in our Fall newsletter cover story. picower.mit.edu/news/many-me...
#neuroscience #depression #anxiety #bipolar
#neuroscience #depression #anxiety #bipolar
Visually observing neural activity in freely moving animals requires identifying and tracking moving cells. In @elife.bsky.social the Flavell lab describes deep neural networks to enable this in a nematode worm (and applies some to jellyfish too!). elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre... #neuroscience
October 6, 2025 at 8:27 PM
Visually observing neural activity in freely moving animals requires identifying and tracking moving cells. In @elife.bsky.social the Flavell lab describes deep neural networks to enable this in a nematode worm (and applies some to jellyfish too!). elifesciences.org/reviewed-pre... #neuroscience
Congratulations to Linlin Fan on earning a BBRF Young Investigator grant! 'Using all-optical methods, Fan’s lab will study whether and how serotonin modulates plasticity. bbrfoundation.org/content/brai... #neuroscience #memory
Brain & Behavior Research Foundation Awards 165 Young Investigator Grants to Advance Mental Health Research | Brain & Behavior Research Foundation
$11.4 million in two-year awards—selected from 895 applications—will fuel early-career breakthroughs in depression, schizophrenia, anxiety, PTSD, addiction, and more.
bbrfoundation.org
October 1, 2025 at 5:36 PM
Congratulations to Linlin Fan on earning a BBRF Young Investigator grant! 'Using all-optical methods, Fan’s lab will study whether and how serotonin modulates plasticity. bbrfoundation.org/content/brai... #neuroscience #memory
Register now for "Circuits of Survival and Homeostasis" on 10/21! Seven talks will cover how brain-body circuits monitor, regulate, and repair fundamental physiological functions, offering insights into their mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #neuroscience
September 30, 2025 at 1:55 PM
Register now for "Circuits of Survival and Homeostasis" on 10/21! Seven talks will cover how brain-body circuits monitor, regulate, and repair fundamental physiological functions, offering insights into their mechanisms and potential therapeutic targets. docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F... #neuroscience
Before a packed house, speakers at MIT’s Aging Brain Initiative symposium 9/18 described how immune system factors during aging contribute to #Alzheimers, #Parkinsons and other conditions. The field is leveraging that knowledge to develop new therapies. picower.mit.edu/news/immune-...
Immune-informed brain aging research offers new treatment possibilities, speakers say
Before a packed house, speakers at MIT’s Aging Brain Initiative symposium described how immune system factors during aging contribute to Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and other conditions. The field is lev...
picower.mit.edu
September 29, 2025 at 4:54 PM
Before a packed house, speakers at MIT’s Aging Brain Initiative symposium 9/18 described how immune system factors during aging contribute to #Alzheimers, #Parkinsons and other conditions. The field is leveraging that knowledge to develop new therapies. picower.mit.edu/news/immune-...
Reposted by The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT
New paper!
Evidence for an active handoff between hemispheres during target tracking
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
#neuroscience
Evidence for an active handoff between hemispheres during target tracking
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
#neuroscience
Evidence for an active handoff between hemispheres during target tracking
The brain has somewhat separate cognitive resources for the left and right sides of our visual field. Despite this lateralization, we have a smooth and unified perception of our environment. This rais...
www.jneurosci.org
September 22, 2025 at 11:22 AM
New paper!
Evidence for an active handoff between hemispheres during target tracking
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
#neuroscience
Evidence for an active handoff between hemispheres during target tracking
www.jneurosci.org/content/earl...
#neuroscience
As an object moves across your field of view, the brain seamlessly hands off visual processing from one hemisphere to the other like cell phone towers or relay racers do, a new study by @earlkmiller.bsky.social in @sfnjournals.bsky.social shows. picower.mit.edu/news/how-bra...
#neuroscience
#neuroscience
How the brain splits up vision without you even noticing
As an object moves across your field of view, the brain seamlessly hands off visual processing from one hemisphere to the other like cell phone towers or relay racers do, a new MIT study shows.
picower.mit.edu
September 22, 2025 at 1:05 PM
As an object moves across your field of view, the brain seamlessly hands off visual processing from one hemisphere to the other like cell phone towers or relay racers do, a new study by @earlkmiller.bsky.social in @sfnjournals.bsky.social shows. picower.mit.edu/news/how-bra...
#neuroscience
#neuroscience
A new study from MIT neuroscientists reveals how rare variants of a gene called ABCA7 may contribute to the development of #Alzheimers in some of the people who carry it. picower.mit.edu/news/study-e... @mitbcs.bsky.social #neuroscience
Study explains how a rare gene variant contributes to Alzheimer’s disease
Lipid metabolism and cell membrane function can be disrupted in the neurons of people who carry rare variants of ABCA7.
picower.mit.edu
September 10, 2025 at 3:20 PM
A new study from MIT neuroscientists reveals how rare variants of a gene called ABCA7 may contribute to the development of #Alzheimers in some of the people who carry it. picower.mit.edu/news/study-e... @mitbcs.bsky.social #neuroscience
🫁↔️🧠 A review by Sara Prescott's lab lays out the latest airway-brain circuits research and makes the case that "ongoing research promises new insights into airway disease mechanisms and the neural basis of breathing-related behaviors." www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #biology #neuroscience
The airway-brain axis: Connecting breath, brain, and behavior
The neural control of breathing is both dynamic and essential, ensuring life-sustaining gas exchange while protecting the respiratory system from harm…
www.sciencedirect.com
September 9, 2025 at 1:12 PM
🫁↔️🧠 A review by Sara Prescott's lab lays out the latest airway-brain circuits research and makes the case that "ongoing research promises new insights into airway disease mechanisms and the neural basis of breathing-related behaviors." www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti... #biology #neuroscience
How do neurons sense (or get tricked by) the bacteria in the microbiome? A new preprint from the lab of Steve Flavell led by Cassi Estrem identifies chemical cues that trigger neurons in C. elegans models. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #neuroscience #microbiome @mitbcs.bsky.social
September 4, 2025 at 3:21 PM
How do neurons sense (or get tricked by) the bacteria in the microbiome? A new preprint from the lab of Steve Flavell led by Cassi Estrem identifies chemical cues that trigger neurons in C. elegans models. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... #neuroscience #microbiome @mitbcs.bsky.social