MIT
News "Simple mathematical computations underlie brain circuits: Discovery of how some neurons inhibit others could shed light on autism, other neurological disorders."
MITnews, August 9, 2012.

"The Inner Workings Of Autism,"
Chemical & Engineering News, March 5, 2012.

"New MIT center to fund autism research: Grants to focus on experimental ideas,"
Boston Globe, December 14, 2011.


Changes in brain structure in MeCP2 mutant mice and the effects of IGF-1 treatment

Cortical Development, Plasticity, and Dynamics
 Plasticity, or the adaptive response of the brain to changes in inputs, is essential to brain development and function. The developing brain requires a genetic blueprint but is also acutely sensitive to the environment. The adult brain constantly adapts to changes in stimuli, and this plasticity is manifest not only as learning and memory but also as dynamic changes in information transmission and processing. The goal of the Sur laboratory is to understand long-term plasticity and short-term dynamics in networks of the developing and adult cortex. In addition, we aim to use insights from brain development to understand mechanisms of developmental brain disorders.

Latest Publications
Castro J, Mellios N, Sur M.
Mechanisms and therapeutic challenges in autism spectrum disorders: insights from Rett syndrome.
Curr Opin Neurol. 2013 Apr;26(2):154-9. doi: 10.1097/WCO.0b013e32835f19a7.

Roy D, Tjandra Y, Mergenthaler K, Petravicz J, Runyan CA, Wilson NR, Sur M, Obermayer K.
Afferent specificity, feature specific connectivity influence orientation selectivity: A computational study in mouse primary visual cortex.
arXiv:1301.0996 [q-bio.NC].

Chen N, Sugihara H, Sharma J, Perea G, Petravicz J, Le C, Sur M.
Nucleus basalis enabled stimulus specific plasticity in the visual cortex is mediated by astrocytes.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (doi: 10.1073/pnas.1206557109), 2012. [PDF]

Anguera MC, Sadreyev R, Zhang Z, Szanto A, Payer B, Sheridan SD, Kwok S, Haggarty SJ, Sur M, Alvarez J, Gimelbrant A, Mitalipova M, Kirby JE, Lee JT.
Molecular signatures of human induced pluripotent stem cells highlight sex differences and cancer genes.
Cell Stem Cell 11: 75-90, 2012. [PDF]

Wilson NR, Runyan CA, Wang FL, Sur M.
Division and subtraction by distinct cortical inhibitory networks in vivo.
Nature 488: 343-348, 2012; doi:10.1038/nature11347. [PDF]

Mellios N, Sur M.
The emerging role of microRNAs in schizophrenia and autism spectrum disorders.
Front. Psychiatry 2012 April; 3:39. [PDF]