About the Institute
The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
at MIT focuses the talents of a diverse array of brain scientists
on a single mission: unraveling the mechanisms that drive
the quintessentially human capacity to remember and to learn,
as well as related functions like perception, attention and
consciousness.
With a broad range of scientific backgrounds, our faculty
members study the brain from the level of molecules, genes
and cells to systems biology and the cognitive system as a
whole. Animated by an open, collaborative spirit, the Picower
Institute is already making very significant contributions
to humanity's understanding of learning and memory—contributions
that will help alleviate the crippling diseases of the brain,
enhance our strategies for education and improve the quality
of human life on earth.
Academic status and history
The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory is an independent
research entity within MIT's School of Science, with faculty
members holding academic appointments in the Department of
Brain and Cognitive Sciences, the Department of Biology, or
both. The Institute also offers exciting research opportunities
for scholars at all levels, from undergraduates to post-docs.
In 1994, MIT first established a world-class, multidisciplinary
neuroscience research center, initially with a grant from
the Sherman Fairchild Foundation and, more recently, with
long-term support from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute and
the National Institute of Mental Health. In 2002, thanks to
an extraordinary gift from the Picower Foundation, the Center
became the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory.
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