Welcome to the Simons Center for the Social Brain at MIT. The mission of the Simons Center is to understand the neural mechanisms underlying social cognition and behavior, and to translate this knowledge into better diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We implement this mission through several programs: by hosting community events; awarding seed grants and fellowships to investigators, postdoctoral trainees, and undergraduates; establishing innovative technology hubs to support collaborative research; and by catalyzing targeted projects convening key researchers working on highly relevant aspects of autism genetcs and mechanisms.

The Simons Center studies the underlying mechanisms of ASD in both humans and relevant model organisms and systems, as neural correlates of social cognition and behavior exist in diverse species. Experimental approaches take advantage of MIT's strengths in genetics and genomics, molecular and cell biology, analyses of neural circuits and systems, cognitive psychology, mathematics and engineering.

The Simons Center for the Social Brain is supported by a grant from the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative. It is the successor program to the Simons Initiative on Autism and the Brain at MIT.

Follow the links for upcoming Simons Center Colloquium and Lunch Events.