Current Research

Picower Institute for Learning & Memory (PILM)

The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory  at MIT was established in May 1994 as an independent research center between the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and the Department of Biology. The primary interests of this multidisciplinary center include:

• Neuroscience of learning and memory, and associated cognitive functions.
• Neuroscience of synaptic transmission and synaptic plasticity.
• Neurobiology of developmental plasticity.
  

In order to fully understand complex cognitive phenomena such as learning and memory, it is necessary to analyze them at multiple levels of complexity: at the molecular level, at the synaptic level, at the cellular level, at the neuronal ensemble level, and at the level of behavior of a whole living animal.

At the Institute we accomplish these challenging objectives by applying, in combination, an assortment of cutting edge experimental technologies that include behavioral mutants of fly, molecular and cell biology, genomics, electrophysiology of cultured neurons and brain slices, two photon laser microscopy, combined behavioral and single-unit recording and analysis of monkeys, large scale recording of the activity of neuronal ensembles of freely behaving rodents, and a wide array of behavioral paradigms .
For information regarding UROP opportunities in PILM, check the UROP Project Openings Page or see the PILM UROP Coordinator.

Prof. Mark Bear, 46-3301, mbear@mit.edu

Modification of the Cerebral Cortex by Sensory Experience<

Professor Myriam Heiman, 46-4303A, mheiman@mit.edu

Molecular Basis of Selective Neurodegeneration

Prof. J. Troy Littleton, 42-3243, x2-2605, troy@mit.edu

Molecular mechanisms underlying synapse formation, function and plasticity.

Prof. Earl Miller, 46-6241, x2-1584, ekm@ai.mit.edu

Neural basis of visual memory and cognition.

Prof. Elly Nedivi, 46-3239, x3-2344, nedivi@mit.edu

Molecular Basis of Synaptic Plasticity

Prof. Mriganka Sur, 46-6237, x3-8784, x3-8785, msur@mit.edu

Development and plasticity of the visual system; mechanisms of learning and memory in the adult brain.

Prof. Susumu Tonegawa, 46-5285, x3-6461, tonegawa@mit.edu

Mechanism of cell differentiation, immunology, and neurobiology.

Prof. Li-Huei Tsai, 46-4235A, lhtsai@mit.edu

Mechanisms of Alzheimer's Disease and Epigenetic Regulation of Learning & Memory

Prof. Kay Tye, 46-6263, kaytye@mit.edu

Dissecting Neural Circuits Underlying Motivated Behaviors

Prof. Matthew A. Wilson, 46-5233, x3-2046, wilson@mit.edu

How is experience represented and stored within the brain? A fundamental tenet of modern brain theory has been that information is coded in the coordinated activity of neuronal ensembles.

Prof. Weifeng Xu, 46-4239A, weifeng@mit.edu

Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Synaptic Plasticity in the Hippocampus