The Friends of the McGovern Institute Student Fellowship has been awarded to Joel Leibo for his work in Prof. Tomaso Poggio’s lab. Leibo’s research asks two key questions: How do we learn to recognize faces? And how can we build machines to do the same? He is applying his background in neuroscience and mathematics to […]
This award-winning video provides viewers with an intimate tour of the McGovern Institute and it explores the tools our researchers are using to unlock the mystery of the human brain.
Neurons in the mouse cerebellum, expressing the synaptic protein SAPAP-4. Image: Louis Tee and Guoping Feng
Habits are behaviors wired so deeply in our brains that we perform them automatically. This allows you to follow the same route to work every day without thinking about it, liberating your brain to ponder other things, such as what to make for dinner. However, the brain’s executive command center does not completely relinquish control […]
The prize recognizes outstanding contributions to research in the field of medical engineering. Boyden was awarded the prize for his pioneering research contributions to the field of optogenetics, in which neurons are genetically modified to respond to light. He presented his prize lecture at the McGovern Institute on October 22, 2012.
A team led by MIT neuroscientists has developed a way to monitor how brain cells coordinate with each other to control specific behaviors, such as initiating movement or detecting an odor. The researchers’ new imaging technique, based on the detection of calcium ions in neurons, could help them map the brain circuits that perform such […]
A century and a half ago, French physician Pierre Paul Broca found that patients with damage to part of the brain’s frontal lobe were unable to speak more than a few words. Later dubbed Broca’s area, this region is believed to be critical for speech production and some aspects of language comprehension. However, in recent […]
To win at cards, players must understand the beliefs and intentions of their opponents, an ability known as “Theory of Mind.” Rebecca Saxe studies the brain mechanisms that underlie this quintessentially human ability.
We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mehrdad Jazayeri as an Investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. He will join the institute in January 2013, with a faculty appointment as assistant professor in MIT’s Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences.
