Neuroscience News
Winter 2008

Reversing fragile X symptoms
Selectively rewiring the brain
Seeing double
Building strong synapses
Rethinking neural stem cells
Symposium draws hundreds
Retreat renamed
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2008

New MIT tool probes brain circuits (Innovations Report, February 13, 2008) Researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT report in the Feb. 13 issue of the Journal of Neuroscience that mice genetically engineered to lack a key protein used for building synapses-the junctions through which brain cells communicate-actually learned a spatial memory task faster and better than normal mice. more>>

Gene research to explain autistic savants (MedicineWorld.org, February 13, 2008) The work could also result in future therapys for autism and other brain development disorders. more>>

MIT gene research may explain autistic savants (Medical News Today, February 12, 2008) Mice lacking a certain brain protein learn some tasks better but also forget faster, according to new research from MIT that may explain the phenomenon of autistic savants in humans. more>>

Gene research may help explain autistic savants (MIT News Office, February 12, 2008) Mice lacking a certain brain protein learn some tasks better but also forget faster, according to new research from MIT that may explain the phenomenon of autistic savants in humans. more>>

Neuroscience? No Problem (Burlington Union, February 7, 2008) On Saturday, 14 Boston-area high schools competed in the annual Brain Bee at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory in Cambridge. more>>

New MIT tool probes brain circuits (Medical News Today, January 24, 2008) Researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT report in the Jan. 24 online edition of Science that they have created a way to see, for the first time, the effect of blocking and unblocking a single neural circuit in a living animal. more>>

New MIT tool probes brain circuits (Bio-Medicine, January 24, 2008) Susumu Tonegawa, Picower Professor of Biology and Neuroscience, and colleagues see how bypassing a major memory-forming circuit in the brain affected learning and memory in mice. more>>

New MIT tool probes brain circuits (ScienceDaily, January 24, 2008) Researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT report in the Jan. 24 online edition of Science that they have created a way to see, for the first time, the effect of blocking and unblocking a single neural circuit in a living animal. more>>

New MIT tool probes brain circuits (MIT News Office, January 24, 2008) Method applied to learning/memory pathway. more>>

JSPS Prize awarded to Dr. Yasunori Hayashi, RIKEN Unit Leader (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, January 15, 2008) It has been announced that on December 25, 2007 the JSPS Prize was awarded to Dr. Yasunori Hayashi for his work on molecular mechanisms of hippocampal synaptic plasticity. more>>

Gift aims to promote new Picower collaborations (MIT News Office, January 10, 2008) A $1.2 million gift from Dana and Betty Fisher aims to promote new collaborations and community among scientists at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. more>>

Your brain on Deja Vu (Good Housekeeping, January 2008) Research points to potential drug treatment for humans. more>>

2007

Inherited retardation and autism corrected in mice (ScienceDaily, December 20, 2007) more>>

Gene improves brain development in mice, helps autism (NBC 10 News, December 20, 2007) more>>

Mental retardation, autism symptoms in mice corrected (China View, December 20, 2007) more>>

Fragile X Syndrome corrected in mice (U.S. News and World Report, December 19, 2007) Discovery may lead to treatments for the genetic disease, a leading cause of mental retardation. more>>

Gene tinkering curbs autism symptoms in mice (MSNBC, December 19, 2007) Pill in the pipeline could have same effect in people, scientists say. more>>

Fragile X fixed in mice (Nature.com, December 19, 2007) Animal studies suggest a way to treat the devastating mental retardation disorder. more>>

Fragile X study offers hope for autism treatment [Telegraph (UK), December 19, 2007] more>>

Fragile X Syndrome: Gene fix? (CBS News, December 19, 2007) Tweaking a certain gene eases Fragile X symptoms in lab tests on mice. more>>

A new approach to correcting autism (Time Magazine, December 19, 2007) more>>

India-U.S. team cures autism in mice (Hindustani Times, December 19, 2007) more>>

Experiments on mice suggest possible autism treatment (Pravda, December 19, 2007) more>>

MIT corrects inherited retardation, autism in mice (MIT News Office, December 19, 2007) Research points to potential drug treatment for humans. more>>

Jogging your memory (Newsweek, December 10, 2007) You can push your aging brain to recall more facts and dates, scientists say, if you use a little muscle. more>>

Missing protein may be key to autism (ScienceDaily, December 7, 2007) A missing brain protein may be one of the culprits behind autism and other brain disorders, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory report in the Dec. 6 issue of Neuron. more>>

Brain protein may be a clue to autism (U.S. News and World Report, December 7, 2007) Early research suggests trouble in nervous system development. more>>

Brain protein may provide autism link (CBS News, December 5, 2007) Research Shows Shortfall Of Key Brain Protein May Hinder Brain Development more>>

Missing protein may be key to autism (MIT News Office, December 5, 2007) more>>

MIT: stem-cell therapies for brain more complicated than thought (MIT News Office, November 30, 2007) more>>

Stem-cell therapies for brain more complicated than thought (ScienceDaily, November 29, 2007) An MIT research team's latest finding suggests that stem cell therapies for the brain could be much more complicated than previously thought. more>>

A wiring diagram of the brain (MIT Technology Review, November 19, 2007)
The emerging field of connectomics could help researchers decode the brain's approach to information processing. more>>

Enzymes key to brainpower identified (ScienceDaily, November 16, 2007) Bolstering disintegrating neural connections may help boost brainpower in Alzheimer's disease patients, MIT researchers and colleagues will report in the Nov. 8 issue of Neuron. more>>

MIT IDs enzymes key to brainpower (MIT News Office, November 7, 2007) Research could inform treatments for Alzheimer's patients. more>>

Big MIT contingent at Society for Neuroscience meeting (MIT News Office, October 31, 2007) more>>

An active, purposeful machine that comes out at night to play (New York Times, October 23, 2007) Some neuroscientists say that at least one vital function of sleep is tied to learning and memory, and new findings suggest that sleep plays a crucial role in flagging and storing important memories. more>>

New role for well-known protein: Could lead to lead to Alzheimer's, Parkinson's treatments (ScienceDaily, October 22, 2007) In a finding that may lead to potential new treatments for diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT report an unexpected role in the brain for a well-known protein. more>>

MIT finds new role for well-known protein (MIT News Office, October 18, 2007) Research could lead to treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's. more>>

Research could lead to treatments for Alzheimer's, Parkinson's (Medical News Today, October 11, 2007) MIT finds new role for well-known protein. more>>

Mind Tricks Explained (Popular Science, October, 2007)
The latest research on déjà vu, out-of-body experiences and other head games. more>>

Reversing mental retardation (MIT Technology Review, September/October 2007) Study with mice holds promise for humans. more>>

Brain's messengers could be regulated, MIT researchers find (MIT News Office, September 16, 2007) Potential for better understanding of schizophrenia. more>>

Discovery of the binocular vision gene (Medical News Today, September 16, 2007) In work that could lead to new treatments for sensory disorders in which people experience the strange phenomena of seeing better with one eye covered, MIT researchers report that they have identified the gene responsible for binocular vision. more>>

MIT IDs binocular vision gene (MIT News Office, September 13, 2007) Research could lead to treatments for some visual disorders. more>>

The Goldilocks Method for Curing Autism (Discover Magazine, August 23, 2007) Combining two bad mutant genes produces neurons that're just right. more>>

Memories misplaced, not lost (MIT Technology Review, July/August 2007) more>>

Study says you can control fear by inhibiting an enzyme (CBC News, July 16, 2007) Inhibiting an enzyme in the brain that controls the formation of fears may lead to the first drug for post-traumatic stress disorder, say U.S. scientists. more >>

Brain target for stress disorder (BBC News, July 15, 2007)
Blocking a molecule in the brain may "cure" post-traumatic stress disorder, according to US researchers. more >>

MIT IDs mechanism behind fear (MIT News Office, July 15, 2007)
Researchers from MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have uncovered a molecular mechanism that governs the formation of fears stemming from traumatic events. The work could lead to the first drug to treat the millions of adults who suffer each year from persistent, debilitating fears – including hundreds of soldiers returning from conflict in Iraq and Afghanistan. more >>

Sleep, Learning, and Memory (NOVA scienceNow, July 10, 2007)
Why do we need sleep? Part of the answer may be to strengthen memories. Learn more about sleep, and view the NOVA scienceNow segment featuring neuroscientist Matt Wilson. more >>

Team reports genetic link between aging, neurodegenerative disorders (MIT News Office, July 9, 2007)
A group of enzymes known as sirtuins have gained fame in recent years for their ability to slow the aging process. Now, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Harvard Medical School report that one particular sirtuin-producing gene is a link between aging and human neurodegenerative disorders. more >>

Scientists reverse symptoms of autism in mice (Scientific American, June 26, 2007)
Finding could set the stage for ways to reverse damage in sufferers of the inherited fragile X syndrome. more >>

Scientists reverse symptoms of autism in mice (CBC News, June 26, 2007)
Scientists may have uncovered a way to reverse symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice. more >>

Researchers Reverse Symptoms In Mice Of Leading Inherited Cause Of Mental Retardation (ScienceDaily, June 26, 2007)
Researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT have, for the first time, reversed symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice. more >>

Advances in autism research (WBUR, June 26, 2007)
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have succeeded in reversing the symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice. more >>

Fragile X study raises hopes for autism (Boston Globe, June 26, 2007)
Blocking a key brain chemical can reverse many of the symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome – an inherited form of mental retardation often accompanied by autism – in mice engineered to have the disease. more >>

Scientists reverse symptoms of autism in mice (Washington Post, June 25, 2007)
Scientists may have uncovered a way to reverse symptoms of mental retardation and autism in mice. more >>

MIT researcher offers hope for syndrome that causes retardation, autism (Boston.com, June 25, 2007)
Blocking a key brain chemical can reverse many of the symptoms of Fragile X Syndrome – an inherited form of mental retardation often accompanied by autism – in mice engineered to have the disease, an on-line scientific journal reported yesterday. more >>

Research deciphers 'déjà vu' brain mechanics (MIT News Office, June 7, 2007)
Neuroscientists at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT report in the June 7 early online edition of Science that they have identified for the first time a neuronal mechanism that helps us rapidly distinguish similar, yet distinct, places. The discovery helps explain the sensation of déjà vu. more >>

Of mice and memory (MIT Technology Review, April 30, 2007)
A compound that helps memory recall in brain-damaged mice could pave the way for new drugs to treat dementia.
more >>

Picower team reverses Alzheimer's-like symptoms in mice (MIT News Office, April 30, 2007)
Mice whose brains had atrophied like those of Alzheimer's disease patients regained long-term memories and the ability to learn after living in an enriched environment, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory report in the April 29 advance online edition of Nature. more >>

Lost Memories May Be Restored (MIT Technology Review, April 30, 2007)
A compound that helps memory recall in brain-damaged mice could pave the way for new drugs to treat dementia. more >>

Sleep, Memory (WBUR, March 30, 2007)
Scientists have known for 50 years that the brain handles short- and long-term memories in different ways. Now researchers in Boston are contributing to a growing understanding of the role of sleep in transforming memory. more >>

Separate brain areas rule concentration and distraction (USA Today, March 29, 2007)
New research shows it takes one part of the brain to start concentrating and another to be distracted. This discovery could help scientists develop better treatments for attention deficit disorder. more >>

Study may help develop ADD treatments (Washington Post, March 29, 2007)
Spot a bear in the woods, and a different part of your brain will yell "pay attention" than if you were studying bears at the zoo. New research shows it takes one part of the brain to start concentrating and another to be distracted. This discovery could help scientists develop better treatments for attention deficit disorder. more >>

Neuroscientists find different brain regions fuel attention (MIT News Office, March 29, 2007)
If you spotted an anaconda poised to strike, the signal to pay attention would originate in a different part of your brain than if you gazed at an anaconda in the zoo, neuroscientists at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory report in the March 30 issue of Science. more >>

Study Reveals Why We Get Distracted So Easily (LiveMarch 29, 2007)
Distractions turn on different part of our brains and do so more quickly than the daily grind of paying attention, neuroscientists have discovered. more >>

Newton 11th grader wins Boston regional Brain Bee (MIT News Office, February 23, 2007)
Natalya Slepneva, a junior from Newton South High School, beat 25 students from 15 local high schools to win the 2007 Boston Regional Brain Bee at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory Feb. 10. more >>

Picower study points to a genetic link for schizophrenia (MIT News Office, February 20, 2007)
Gene mutations governing a key brain enzyme make people susceptible to schizophrenia and may be targeted in future treatments for the psychiatric illness, according to MIT and Japanese researchers. more >>

Brain Gene Mutation Linked to Schizophrenia (Washingtonpost.com, February 20, 2007)
Gene mutations governing a key brain enzyme make people susceptible to schizophrenia and may be targeted in future treatments for the psychiatric illness, according to MIT and Japanese researchers. more >>

Studying, and Managing, Brainpower (Boston Globe, February 12, 2007)
It was the day President John F. Kennedy was shot that Mark Bear took an interest in the human brain. more >>

High school students compete in 'brain bee' at MIT (MIT News Office, February 9, 2007)
More than 30 students from Boston-area high schools will compete Feb. 10 in the 2007 Boston Regional Brain Bee at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. more >>

Mark Bear Named Picower Director (January 2, 2007)
Neuroscientist Mark F. Bear, an expert on how the brain changes in response to experience, has been appointed director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, effective January 1. more >>

2006

Memory experts show sleeping rats may have visual dreams (MIT News Office, December 18, 2006)
Memories of our life stories may be reinforced while we sleep, MIT researchers report Dec. 17 in the advance online edition of Nature Neuroscience. more >>

In Memory-Bank 'Dialogue,' the Brain Is talking to Itself (The New York Times, December 18, 2006)
New recordings of electrical activity in the brain may explain a major part of its function, including how it consolidates daily memories, why it needs to dream and how it constructs models of the world to guide behavior. more >>

Neuroscientists pinpoint brain site for rapid learning (MIT News Office, October 20, 2006)
MIT researchers have provided the first two-pronged evidence – based on both behavior and physiology – that a specific juncture in the memory center of the brain is crucial for rapid learning. more >>

Pick your own memories? (Boston.com, September 4, 2006)
Research raises the far-off prospect of editing memories in the brain, deleting unpleasant ones and even inserting experiences you never had. more >>

MIT provides first evidence for learning mechanism (MIT News Office, August 24, 2006)
Finally confirming a fact that remained unproven for more than 30 years, researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory report in the Aug. 25 issue of Science that certain key connections among neurons get stronger when we learn. more >>

Professor explores Alzheimer's causes (August 8, 2006)
Some people live to be 100 without falling victim to Alzheimer's disease. Li-Huei Tsai, who joined MIT this spring as Picower Professor of Neuroscience, wants to know why. more >>

MIT researchers uncover basis for perceptual learning (MIT News Office, August 2, 2006)
The artist's trained eye can detect distinctions others can't; musicians pick up subtle changes in tone lost on the nonmusical. Brain researchers call these abilities perceptual learning. Following up on an accidental finding, MIT researchers at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and colleagues have uncovered a mechanism for this phenomenon. more >>

MIT researchers watch brain in action (July 27, 2006)
For the first time, scientists have been able to watch neurons within the brain of a living animal change in response to experience. more >>

Correa in Cambridge (July 26, 2006)
Celebrated Indian architect Charles Correa has completed his first major project in the United States on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working in collaboration with the Boston firm of Goody Clancy. more >>

Picower Institute Launches Neuroscience Newsletter (July 20, 2006)
The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT announces the creation of "Neuroscience News," a quarterly newsletter highlighting state-of-the-art advances in brain research related to learning and memory. more >>

Reverse-Engineering the Brain (July 11, 2006)
At MIT, neuroscience and artificial intelligence are beginning to intersect. more >>

MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex (June 2006)
Chalres Correa Associates tems with Goody Clancy to design a neuroscience research center
that encourages collaboration. more >>

An Anti-Addiction Pill? (June 25, 2006)
Last month, the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was host to a conference about addiction for a small, invitation-only crowd of neuroscientists, clinicians and public policy makers. more >>

Genetic networks discussed at Picower retreat (June 16, 2006)
Cori Bargmann wants to know what it's like to be a worm. more >>

Sur elected fellow of Royal Society (May 24,2006)
Mriganka Sur, the Sherman Fairchild Professor of Neuroscience and head of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, has been elected a fellow of the Royal Society. more >>

New MIT center helps scientists peer into the soul (May 15, 2006)
A new MIT research center brings scientists closer to solving the mystery of the mind. more >>

Addiction's grip now seen as 'extreme memory' (May 15, 2006)
Explain this: An addict sweats through withdrawal. He commits to staying sober. With years of effort, he builds a life he loves. And then, one day, he passes his old shooting alley or gets pain pills from the dentist, and boom. Relapse. It all comes crashing down. By all accounts, something similar may have hit US Representative Patrick Kennedy earlier this month. more >>

Picower conference tackles addiction (May 12, 2006)
William C. Moyers was a talented, aggressive journalist who never missed a deadline. He sang in his church choir and owned a home on Long Island. For years, he was a closet alcoholic and crack cocaine addict. more >>

Brain researchers see visual role for growth factor (April 28, 2006)
Researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory have identified an insulin-like growth factor that prevents the usual effects of visual deprivation in the brain. more >>

Neuroscience Central (March/April Issue)
MIT’s new Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex is the world’s largest neuroscience research center. more >>

Nobelist unravels smell at Picower symposium (March 29, 2006)
Vanilla, camphor, lavender and skunk are just a few of the tens of thousands of odors that humans can detect with exquisite sensitivity. Even a tiny change in chemistry can shift a smell from sweet to rancid, according to Nobel laureate Linda B. Buck, but how do mammals detect so many different odors with such precision, and how do their brains translate that information into behavior, emotions and actions? more >>

Picower research finds unexpected activity in visual cortex (March 16, 2006)
For years, neural activity in the brain's visual cortex was thought to have only one job: to create visual perceptions. A new study by researchers at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory shows that visual cortical activity can serve another purpose – connecting visual experience with non-visual events. more >>

Is `Instant Replay' a Learning Tool? (February 20, 2006)
A new discovery by Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers suggests that the brain may be able to work much like the "instant replay" on sports shows. more >>

For brainy teens, a reason to bee (February 19th)
Competition tests students' grasp of neuroscience. more >>

Newton student wins Brain Bee at Picower (February 16, 2006)
A student from Newton (Mass.) South High School took top place in the first Boston Regional Brain Bee, held Saturday, Feb. 11, at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT. Ariella Goldman will go on to compete in the International Brain Bee at the University of Maryland in March during Brain Awareness Week. more >>

Rats in a Maze Take a Moment to Remember, but in Reverse (February 14, 2006)
When rats pause in running through a maze, they play back their memory of points along their route, but in reverse order. more >>

Picower researcher explains how rats think (February 12, 2006)
After running a maze, rats mentally replay their actions – but backward, like a film played in reverse, a researcher at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT reports Feb. 12 in the advance online edition of Nature. more >>

2005

Picower researcher finds neuron growth in adult brain (December 27, 2005 )
Despite the prevailing belief that adult brain cells don't grow, a researcher at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory reports in the Dec. 27 issue of Public Library of Science (PLoS) Biology that structural remodeling of neurons does in fact occur in mature brains. more >>

New MIT lab complex is scene of heady research (December 12, 2005)
It’s fitting that the world’s largest center to study the brain is at a university where there are perhaps the most big brains. more >>

'Backtalk' among cells key to brain connections (December 5, 2005)
A Picower Institute for Learning and Memory researcher reports in the Nov. 4 issue of Science that a kind of "backtalk" from a postsynaptic cell is crucial in the chemical and electrical dance that drives synapse development. more >>

Institute dedicates Brain & Cog Complex (December 5, 2005)
The atrium of the Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex resembled a five-story illuminated manuscript – complete with golden light, dazzling surfaces and young faces gazing down – during its dedication ceremony. more >>

Oliver Sacks talk highlights Picower celebration (December 2, 2005)
Clive, an eminent British musician, suffered a brain disease in 1984 that robbed him of his short-term memory. Although he can still perform and conduct new music, within seconds of completing a piece Clive has no recollection of his actions. If he hears his wife's footsteps, he recognizes and embraces her. If she appears without warning, she is a stranger. more >>

MIT opens world's largest neuroscience research center (December 2, 2005)
On Friday afternoon, Dec. 2, MIT officially opened the new Brain and Cognitive Sciences Complex (BCS), the largest neuroscience research center in the world. The complex will advance MIT's efforts to address one of the great scientific challenges of the 21st century: the understanding of the human brain and mind. more >>

Boston's brains have been rewired (December 1, 2005)
In a gleaming new building on the edge of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology campus, Earl Miller teaches monkeys how to play video games. more >>

Team sniffs out new info about brain cells (December 1, 2005)
New brain cells in the olfactory system are especially sensitive to novel stimuli, preferentially learning to respond to new odors, according to an MIT researcher and colleagues. This level of flexibility suggests that such newly generated neurons could be induced to adapt to and integrate into other regions of the brain, perhaps allowing them to replace neurons lost to injury or disease. more >>

New architecture brings scientists together (November 29, 2005)
Just over two years ago, MIT broke ground on what would become the largest neuroscience complex in the world.more >>

Future of the Brain symposium at MIT (November 12, 2005)
MIT's new Picower Institute for Learning and Memory is hosting an inaugural symposium on Thursday, December 1, and the agenda looks, well, mind-blowing. more >>

Hockfield, 6 faculty members to become AAAS Fellows (November 4, 2005)
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has awarded the distinction of Fellow to 376 members, including MIT President Susan Hockfield and six MIT faculty members. more >>

Picower researcher's transgenic technique could lead to avian flu-resistant birds (October 31, 2005)
Creating a strain of avian flu-resistant chickens and exploring how canaries learn to sing are two of many potential uses for a Picower Institute of Learning and Memory researcher's simple new way to create transgenic birds. The work will appear this week in the online early edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Events to mark brain and cog complex opening (October 18, 2005)
In association with the opening of its new brain and cognitive sciences complex on Dec. 2, MIT will explore the frontiers of cutting-edge neuroscience research in a variety of major events. more >>

MIT launches effort to understand autism (October 3, 2005) MIT brain researchers are undertaking an ambitious, multifaceted approach to understanding the genetic, molecular and behavioral aspects of autism, with the help of a $7.5 million grant from the New York-based Simons Foundation founded by James and Marilyn Simons. more >>

The world's master minds (October 1, 2005)
As part of the BBC's Who Runs Your World? series, Stephen Evans visits the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, home to some of the best scientific brains on the planet. more >>

MIT conference tackles depression (September 21, 2005)
Key stakeholders in the American depression epidemic – neuroscientists, clinicians, patients and health-care industry representatives– came together Monday at a one-day conference at MIT sponsored by employee benefits company CIGNA and the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. more >>

Brain scientists offer insight into vision ( July 20, 2005)
When you see a flower, neurons deep inside your brain respond to the flower's color, shape and distance from your eyes, somehow working together to create the flower's image in your mind. more >>

Picower researchers talk of mice and memory (June 13, 2005)
Learning-disabled mice, disease-modeling flies, genes that boost brain power and ways to coax out new neurons in adults were among the topics presented at MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory's annual retreat, held June 6-8 in Hyannis, Mass. more >>

Medical Progress (June 2, 2005)
Brain scientists team up to treat autism. more >>

New faculty member appointed (April 14, 2005)
The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory is pleased to announce the addition of a new faculty member, Dr. Li-Huei Tsai. Professor Tsai is a world-renowned molecular neuroscientist, who will be coming to the Center from Harvard Medical School.

MIT researchers identify gene involved in building brains (March 30, 2005)
A tiny molecule is key to determining the size and shape of the developing brain, researchers from the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT reported in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience. This molecule may one day enable scientists to manipulate stem cells in the adult brain. more >>

New Thinking about the Brain (March 4, 2005)
The brain is perhaps the most complex machine in existence. It contains our intellect, senses, emotions, personality, and memory – the very things that make humans so human. more >>

Primitive brain is 'smarter' than we think, MIT study shows (February 23, 2005)
Primitive structures deep within the brain may have a far greater role in our high-level everyday thinking processes than previously believed, report researchers at the MIT Picower Center for Learning and Memory in the Feb. 24 issue of Nature. more >>

MIT: Cells' delicate balancing act is key to higher brain functions (February 2, 2005)
Researchers at the Picower Center for Learning and Memory have uncovered an important new way that the brain performs complex functions such as pattern recognition. The study will appear in the Feb. 1 issue of Nature Neuroscience. more >>

2004

Cell's tiny power source critical for synapse function (December 16, 2004)
Mitochondria, the tiny power plants inside all plant and animal cells, play a critical role in the health and well-being of synapses, neuroscientists at MIT's Picower Center for Learning and Memory report. more >>

Twitching synapses provide new insight into brain development (December 16, 2004)
Tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a common brain chemical that is used to dissolve blood clots in the brain after a stroke, can hasten the structural remodeling of synapses, neuroscientists at the Picower Center for Learning and Memory at MIT report in the Dec. 16 issue of Neuron. more >>

Scientists find new sign of synapse plasticity (December 16, 2004)
A common brain chemical used to dissolve blood clots in the brain after a stroke can hasten the structural remodeling of synapses, neuroscientists at the Picower Center for Learning and Memory at MIT report. more >>

Magnesium may reverse middle-age memory loss (December 1, 2004)
Magnesium helps build bones, make proteins, release energy stored in muscles and regulate body temperature. MIT researchers now report a possible new role for magnesium: helping maintain memory function in middle age and beyond. more >>

Team finds genetic key to high-level thinking (November 17, 2004 )
A gene expressed only in brain areas responsible for high-level thinking and feeling may be key to the brain's ability to respond rapidly to new input, scientists at MIT's Picower Center for Learning and Memory and colleagues report. more >>

MIT neuroscientist, cryptologist reverse Red Sox curse (October 30, 2004)
Last spring, the Boston Red Sox honored 2 MIT faculty members with the chance to throw the ceremonial first pitch at Fenway. Did it play a part in last night's triumphant win? We don't know for sure, but Rivest and Tonegawa both have their theories. more >>

Brain and cognitive sciences facilities taking shape (October 29, 2004)
Students returned to MIT this fall to discover that yet another major addition to the campus is taking shape: the new facilities for the brain and cognitive sciences on Vassar Street, scheduled for completion next year. more >>

Bird, mouse and fish learning discussed at MIT neuroscience symposium (September 27, 2004)
Birds that are genetically programmed to sing, the effect of pheromones on the mouse brain, and fear conditioning in Japanese fish were some of the topics covered by an international contingent of respected brain researchers at the fourth Picower-RIKEN Neuroscience Symposium held at MIT from Sept. 22-24. more >>

Shape-shifting cell protein helps us remember and forget (September 8, 2004)
Researchers at MIT's Picower Center for Learning and Memory are one step closer to understanding how brain synapses make chameleon-like changes in their structure and composition depending on the input they receive.
more >> Article in Medical News Today >>

Brain shows more plasticity than previously believed (August 23, 2004)
Mice “rewired” to receive visual cues in the hearing region of their brains learned to respond to a flashing light as if they had heard it instead of seen it, MIT researchers report. more >>

Study may hold key to boosting brainpower ( July 21, 2004)
The finding by an MIT neuroscientist that a tiny molecular change signficantly alters the number of synapse receptors may one day lead to the ability to boost brainpower in the area of the brain where long-term memories are stored. more >>

Synapse size and shape key in long-term memory (June 10, 2004)
Neuroscientists at MIT have shown for the first time that storage of long-term memories depends on the size and shape of synapses among neurons in the cerebral cortex.
more >> Article in ScienceDaily >> Article in HealthDaileyNews >>

Fragile promise (July 20, 2004)
Parents push scientists to cure son's disease. more >> video >>

Hope for treating retardation (May 19, 2004)
By blocking a single brain chemical, many of the psychiatric and neurological disabilities associated with a primary cause of mental retardation could be treated, according to MIT neuroscientist Mark Bear in the July issue of Trends in Neuroscience. more >>

Brain trinary system could influence computer design (March 10, 2004)
Guosong Liu, a neuroscientist at the Picower Center for Learning and Memory at MIT, reports new information on neuron design and function in the March 7 issue of Nature Neuroscience that he says could lead to new directions in how computers are made. more >>

Team discovers memory formation mechanism (February 6, 2004)
MIT neuroscientists have discovered a new brain mechanism controlling the formation of lasting memories. This mechanism explains how signals between neurons stimulate production of the protein building blocks needed for long-term memory storage.
more >> Article in ScienceDaily>>

2003

Memory mechanism discovered (October 23, 2003)
By discovering one of the first mechanisms through which brain synapses are dismantled, an MIT neuroscientist sheds new light on how our brains eliminate connections between neurons. The work was reported Thursday, Oct. 23 on Science magazine’s Science Express web site. more >>

Genetic Schizophrenia (August 26, 2003)
About one in a hundred people worldwide suffer from schizophrenia. Now neuroscientists may have found a gene variation that predisposes people to this brain disease. As this ScienCentral News video reports, it could lead to genetically targeted drugs for schizophrenia. more >>

Mechanism in developing brain synapses (July 28, 2003)
An MIT researcher explains in the August issue of Nature Neuroscience how temporarily depriving one eye of vision soon after birth induces a long-lasting loss of synapses that causes blindness. more >>

MIT research and better schizophrenia drugs (June 30, 2003)
MIT researchers have created a schizophrenic mouse that pinpoints a gene variation predisposing people to schizophrenia. more >>

Vision brain cells smarter than thought (June 12, 2003)
Contrary to popular belief, cells in the brain’s primary visual cortex are “smart” enough to help determine where the eyes will look next, MIT researchers report in the June 13 issue of Science. more >>

Groundbreaking ceremony held for Picower Center (April 23, 2003)
"A dream come true," said Nobel laureate founding director Susumu Tonegawa at groundbreaking ceremonies for the new Picower Center for Learning and Memory at MIT. more >>

Neuroscience symposium - (April 2, 2003)
The third Picower-RIKEN Neuroscience Symposium, "New Frontiers in Brain Science," drew dozens of participants to hear researchers from around the world. more >>

2002

MIT lands $50M gift, its largest ever (May 9, 2002)
A $50 million gift from the Picower Foundation earmarked specifically for brain and cognitive research will speed up the pace of MIT's drive to discover the intricate functioning of the brain, and the malfunctions involved in schizophrenia, memory loss, Alzheimer's, Huntington's disease and other brain disorders. This is the single largest gift given to MIT by a private foundation in the university's history. more >>

Reversing fragile X symptoms Selectively rewiring the brain Seeing double Building strong synapses Rethinking neural stem cells Symposium draws hundreds Retreat renamed view pdf