Help us unlock the mysteries of brain disease

A unique opportunity - and a challenge

The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT has received a $2M challenge grant from an anonymous donor to support the acquisition of a magnetoencephalography (MEG) system for human brain scanning.

This powerful new technology will allow MIT researchers and their collaborators to study the human brain in unprecedented detail, and to investigate the basis of devastating brain disorders including depression, schizophrenia, Alzheimer's disease and autism.

But to make this a reality, we must raise an additional $2M to meet the challenge. To do this - and to advance our understanding of brain disease - we need your help.

What is MEG?

Magnetoencephalography, or MEG, is a brain imaging technology that detects the tiny magnetic fluctuations that originate from activity within the human brain. An array of sensitive detectors fit over the surface of the head, allowing researchers to pinpoint the source of activity within the brain. MEG differs from MRI in that it can measure activity with millisecond precision, allowing researchers to study the very rapid brain events that underlie our thought processes.

MEG is completely non-invasive and raises no safety issues for volunteer subjects. People can be scanned seated or lying down, and can interact comfortably with others, making MEG easy for patients, children and elderly subjects.

Why MEG at MIT?

MIT is one of the world's leading centers for brain research, with hundreds of researchers studying the brain at every level from individual cells and synapses all the way to human cognition. A major focus of our work is on brain disorders, and our researchers collaborate extensively with clinicians throughout the Boston area and beyond.

Areas of research at MIT that will benefit from MEG include:

Mental illness, including depression, bipolar disorder and schizophrenia

Memory research, including loss of memory with age or Alzheimer's disease

Autism and autism spectrum disorders

Language learning and dyslexia

Attention and attention deficit disorder

By comparing brain activity in patients and control subjects, or by comparing their brains before and after therapeutic interventions, MEG will provide new insights into the origins of these disorders and new ways in which they could be treated.

Who will use MEG and why?

Our new MEG facility will be integrated into the Martinos Imaging Center at the McGovern Institute, a world-class laboratory for brain imaging research. Since it opened in 2005 the center has become a major resource for the local biomedical research community, providing access to state-of-the art MRI scanners as well as training new users to take advantage of these cutting-edge technologies. MEG has advantages that are complementary to those of MRI, and combining the two scanning technologies in a single center will greatly enhance our ability to study the human brain in health and disease.

MEG will be integral to MIT's future research in brain disorders, including psychiatric, developmental and neurodegenerative disease. For example, by combining MEG with genetic approaches will enable us to study how genes and environmental factors interact within the brain to give rise to the disease state.

In addition to brain disorders, we also expect that MEG will contribute greatly to our understanding of normal brain functions such as perception, cognition and action. In particular MEG will be invaluable for understanding brain development during childhood - how children learn to speak and to perceive the world; how they acquire concepts and make judgments; how they learn to read; and how they learn to understand the minds, motives, and emotions of other people.

Advancing brain research

Brain disorders represent a huge disease burden in the US and worldwide, yet they are among the least understood of the major diseases. Most psychiatric diseases are diagnosed from purely behavioral criteria, and very little is known about the biological mechanisms that underlie our current diagnostic categories. There is an urgent need for new ways to measure activity in the living human brain and identify brain markers that would allow more objective measurements of disease state.

Developing better therapies for these disorders is a daunting task, but thanks to new technologies, our understanding of the brain has grown far beyond what could have been imagined a few years ago. We have found ways to measure and manipulate the brain in ways that until recently would have been inconceivable. But there is still much to be done, and with a MEG facility at MIT, we hope to write the next chapter in this continuing story.

Join us in our mission

Understanding the human brain is among the great challenges of our time, and deeper knowledge of how the brain works in health and disease has the potential to change millions of people's lives for the better.

At the McGovern Institute we are working to make this vision a reality. But we also need your help. The challenge grant will enable us to acquire a state-of-the art system at essentially half of the normal cost. But we have a limited time to meet this challenge and we must raise the remaining funds soon in order to take advantage of this remarkable opportunity. The sooner we can raise the funds, the sooner the work can begin - advancing knowledge so that those whose lives are affected by brain disorders will one day reap the benefits.

For additional information, or to learn how you can make a contribution to this challenge fund, please contact:

Laurie Ledeen
Development and Special Projects Officer
McGovern Institute
MIT, Building 46-3160
Cambridge, MA 02139
(617) 324-0134
ledeen@mit.edu