McGovern Institute news

Ann Graybiel Finds Neural Stopwatch in the Brain October 30, 2009 Graybiel has identified populations of neurons that code time with extreme precision in the primate brain. These neurons are found in two interconnected brain regions, the prefrontal cortex and the striatum, both of which are known to play critical roles in learning, movement, and thought control. Read more

Muscle 'Synergies' May be Key to New Stroke Treatment October 26, 2009 Emilio Bizzi has shown that motor impairments in stroke patients can be understood as impairments in specific combinations of muscle activity, known as synergies. Read more

Tomaso Poggio receives Okawa Prize for work in computational neuroscience October 22, 2009 Tomaso Poggio, a founding member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Eugene McDermott Professor in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and Director of the Center for Biological and Computational Learning has been awarded the Okawa Prize for his work in computational neuroscience. Read more

The McGovern Institute welcomes its newest faculty member, Guoping Feng August 18, 2009 The McGovern Institute announced today the appointment of a new faculty member, Guoping Feng, who is currently an associate professor at Duke University. Feng, a world leader in the study of synapses, will become a McGovern Investigator and a tenured professor in the MIT department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences. Read more

Adult brain changes within seconds July 14, 2009 The human brain can adapt to changing demands even in adulthood, but Nancy Kanwisher has now found evidence of it changing with unsuspected speed. Her findings suggest that the brain has a network of silent connections that underlie its plasticity. Read more

Songbirds reveal how practice improves performance July 6, 2009 Learning complex skills like playing an instrument requires a sequence of movements that can take years to master. Last year, Michale Fee reported that by studying the chirps of tiny songbirds, he was able to identify how two distinct brain circuits contribute to this type of trial-and-error learning in different stages of life. Now, Fee has gained new insights into a specific mechanism behind this learning. Read more

Horvitz finds new actions of neurochemicals July 2, 2009 Although the tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has only 302 neurons in its entire nervous system, studies of this simple animal have significantly advanced our understanding of human brain function because it shares many genes and neurochemical signaling molecules with humans. Now H. Robert Horvitz has found novel C. elegans neurochemical receptors, the discovery of which could lead to new therapeutic targets for psychiatric disorders if similar receptors are found in humans. Read more

Long-distance brain waves focus attention May 29, 2009 Desimone's team finds that when we pay attention, neurons in the prefrontal cortex and the visual cortex fire in unison, generating high frequency waves that oscillate between these distant brain regions like a vibrating spring. Read more

Making waves in the brain May 6, 2009 Christopher Moore and colleagues use laser light to induce gamma waves - critical for attention, consciousness, learning, and memory - in mice. Read more

Edward M. Scolnick Prize Lecture: Dr. Jeremy Nathans April 27, 2009 "The Evolution of Trichromatic Color Vision" Johns Hopkins University Read more

How you feel the world impacts how you see it April 9, 2009 Christopher Moore's team finds that motion illusions occur not only in our visual perception but also in our tactile perception, and that these senses actually influence one another. Read more

What drives brain changes in macular degeneration? March 4, 2009 A study by Nancy Kanwisher's lab sheds light on the underlying neural mechanism of the brain reorganization observed in macular degeneration patients. Read more

H. Robert Horvitz collaborates to identify new gene associated with ALS February 26, 2009 An international team discovered a new causative gene for inherited amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease) with mutations that lead to deposits of abnormal protein within motor neurons. Read more

What causes motor complications of Parkinson's treatment? January 29, 2009 Ann Graybiel study identifies genes linked to key side effects of L-DOPA treatment for Parkinson's disease, suggesting new therapeutic approaches Read more

Altered brain activity in schizophrenia may cause exaggerated focus on self: January 20, 2009 MIT study links schizophrenia to key 'default mode' brain system. Read more

Finding the clock that controls the timing of bird song November 12, 2008 Michale Fee developed a new method for altering the speed of brain activity, and used it to find the clock that controls the timing of the bird's song. Read more

Ann Graybiel named Institute Professor, MIT's highest honor November 3, 2008 Read more

McGovern Institute funds collaborative neurotechnology projects. October 28, 2008 The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT today announced six awards to develop new technologies for neuroscience research. The projects, whose themes range from brain-machine interfaces to new genetic tools and brain imaging methods, are aimed at accelerating basic research and developing new therapeutic approaches for brain disorders. Read more See related story: "Field of neurotech spawn brainy business"

MIT neuroscience bolstered by new faculty, viral core facility. October 27, 2008 A facility exploiting viruses' ability to inject DNA precisely and efficiently into brain cells and two new experts on the molecular underpinnings of the brain's ability to change in response to experience will bolster neuroscience at MIT, home to one of the largest brain sciences research centers in the world... Read more

Master switch found that balances brain activity September 25, 2008 New faculty member Yingxi Lin and colleagues at Children's Hospital Boston have identified a "master switch" for the brain's inhibitory system, which is essential for proper brain function and which is imbalanced in many neurological disorders. Lin was first author of the study in Nature. Read more

Worms provide clues for treating brain diseases September 23, 2008 H. Robert Horvitz study shows that even the simplest worm behaviors can be controlled by multiple signaling pathways. The results might have implications for the treatment of human brain disorders. Read more

Watch and Learn September 11, 2008 Time teaches us how to recognize visual objects: McGovern Institute work could help develop better computer vision systems Read more

Perceptual Illusions July 17, 2008 Perceptual illusions show us how the brain actively interprets the outside world. Christopher Moore's lab has developed a new tactile illusion that provides new insights into how different senses, such as touch and sight, work together. Read more

Singing in the brain: Baby birds' chirps use different neural pathway April, 2008 Much like human babies, juvenile songbirds babble before they master complex vocalizations of their adult tutors. The Fee lab found that zebra finches use two distinct neural pathways for generating songs -- one for babbling early in life and one for singing in adulthood. Read more

Ed Boyden named Sloan Research Fellow Winter, 2008 Ed Boyden, associate member of the McGovern Institute, was one of seven junior MIT faculty to win a 2008 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Research Fellowship. Read more

Christopher Moore catches rats’ twitchy whiskers in action February 27, 2008 New technology for high-speed movies provide the first glimpse of the whiskers’ micromovements underlying the rat’s tactile perception, which is closely related to the human sense of touch. Read more

Nancy Kanwisher and John Gabrieli to study brain basis of autism and dyslexia January 30, 2008 Kanwisher and Gabrieli are the two principal investigators of an ambitious $8.5M grant from the Ellison Medical Foundation to use brain imaging to study the origins of autism and dyslexia. Read more

DiCarlo Sees Design Flaws in Computer Vision Tests January 25, 2008 DiCarlo's team proposes new object recognitions tests that more closely reflect the real-world variability encountered by the visual system. Read more

Culture influences brain function, brain imaging shows January 11, 2008 An fMRI study led by John Gabrieli found that people from different cultures use their brains differently to solve the same visual perceptual tasks. Read more