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Nearly 150 years ago, scientists began to imagine how information might flow through the brain based on the shapes of neurons they had seen under the microscopes of the time. With today’s imaging technologies, scientists can zoom in much further, seeing the tiny synapses through which neurons communicate with one another and even the molecules […]

Today the McGovern Institute at MIT announces that the 2025 Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience will be awarded to Leslie Vosshall, the Robin Chemers Neustein Professor at The Rockefeller University and Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Vosshall is being recognized for her discovery of the neural mechanisms […]

A vast search of natural diversity has led scientists at MIT’s McGovern Institute and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard to uncover ancient systems with potential to expand the genome editing toolbox. These systems, which the researchers call TIGR (Tandem Interspaced Guide RNA) systems, use RNA to guide them to specific sites on DNA. […]

Look around, and you’ll see it everywhere: the way trees form branches, the way cities divide into neighborhoods, the way the brain organizes into regions. Nature loves modularity—a limited number of self-contained units that combine in different ways to perform many functions. But how does this organization arise? Does it follow a detailed genetic blueprint, […]

In biology, seeing can lead to understanding, and researchers in Edward Boyden’s lab at MIT’s McGovern Institute are committed to bringing life into sharper focus. With a pair of new methods, they are expanding the capabilities of expansion microscopy—a high-resolution imaging technique the group introduced in 2015—so researchers everywhere can see more when they look […]

We bring together people of all backgrounds and viewpoints to study the brain in health and disease.  We are committed to creating an atmosphere of civility, collegiality, and mutual respect that stimulates and supports all McGovern employees in their work. By respecting and valuing our differences in race, gender, ethnicity, age, physical and language abilities, brain […]

Celebrating 25 Years of Discovery at the McGovern Institute Date: Friday, April 11, 2025 Location: MIT Building 46, Singleton Auditorium (Room 46-3002), 524 Main Street, Cambridge, MA Time: 1:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m. EDT with reception to follow Registration is required This spring, to celebrate 25 years of discovery, the McGovern Institute is hosting a […]

The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) announced today that McGovern Investigator Evelina Fedorenko will receive a 2025 Troland Research Award for her groundbreaking contributions towards understanding the language network in the human brain. The Troland Research Award is given annually to recognize unusual achievement by early-career researchers within the broad spectrum of experimental psychology. Fedorenko, […]

Nearly 50 years ago, neuroscientists discovered cells within the brain’s hippocampus that store memories of specific locations. These cells also play an important role in storing memories of events, known as episodic memories. While the mechanism of how place cells encode spatial memory has been well-characterized, it has remained a puzzle how they encode episodic […]