The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

How do brains integrate sensory evidence over minutes to generate adaptive behaviors? A new Flavell lab preprint identifies C. elegans circuits that integrate aversive smells during foraging to control specific behavioral responses. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.04.729906v1

Combining insights from the debates of American civics to the discoveries of neuroscience labs, experts honed in on ways that brain science research could inform efforts to improve political participation and dialogue in a polarized age

Symposium speakers examine how understanding the brain could improve the functioning of democracy Combining insights from the debates of American civics to the discoveries of neuroscience labs, experts honed in on ways that brain science research could inform efforts to improve political participation and dialogue in a polarized age

Congratulations to three students in Picower labs who have earned MIT HEALS Graduate Fellowships! Jessie Xiao (studying alpha synuclein in Parkinson's disease), Evan Ruesch (developing tools for optical physiology), & Emma Ibanez (studying sensory neurons in reproductive system).

Myriam Heiman named the director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. Heiman, who studies neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, will lead the institute beginning July 1. https://picower.mit.edu/news/myriam-heiman-named-director-picower-institute-learning-and-memory
“I am honored to take on this role to support the Institute’s exceptional scientists and trainees as they pursue discoveries that deepen our understanding of the brain and improve human health,” Heiman says. MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences

Join the next webinar to hear new insights on the unique way somatostatin neurons integrate into cortical circuitry during development and contribute to healthy cortical function.

Register now 🔗: https://vist.ly/53t84

Congratulations to Professor Emery N. Brown, who this morning received an honorary doctorate of medical sciences Yale University in recognition of his , statistics and anesthesiology research.

The rules neurons follow to make sense of what we see. A new study in mice by the lab of Mriganak Sur discerns the rules that neurons use to turn what could be a cacophony of input into a functional arrangement for processing vision.
News: https://picower.mit.edu/news/rules-neurons-follow-make-sense-what-we-see
Open access study in led by Kyle Jenks: https://www.cell.com/iscience/fulltext/S2589-0042(26)01236-8

The rules neurons follow to make sense of what we see Brain cells take in many signals through thousands of circuit connections. A new study in mice discerns the rules that turn what could be a cacophony of inputs into a functional arrangement for neurons that process vision.

Read a fascinating new interview in Nautilus with Earl Miller and Lisa Feldman Barrett based on their new paper in Nature Reviews Neuroscience, "Categorization is 'baked' into the brain."

How Does Your Brain Know a Cat Is a Cat? How Does Your Brain Know a Cat Is a Cat?: A conversation with renowned neuroscientists Lisa Feldman Barrett and Earl Miller about categories, “folk psychology,” beginner’s mind, and thinking fast and slow

AI for Alzheimer's: FINGERS-7B integrates lifestyle, clinical, genomic, and proteomic data from tens of thousands of at-risk individuals to discover multi-omic biomarkers for preclinical Alzheimer's

MIT-based team releases first AI foundation model for Alzheimer's prevention FINGERS-7B integrates lifestyle, clinical, genomic, and proteomic data from tens of thousands of at-risk individuals to discover multi-omic biomarkers for preclinical Alzheimer's