Alan Jasanoff is developing a new generation of brain imaging technologies to study the neural mechanisms of behavior. In this video press release, Jasanoff discusses his latest findings published in Nature Biotechnology on February 28, 2010. In this study, Jasanoff’s team designed a new MRI sensor that responds to the neurotransmitter dopamine, an achievement that […]
Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) has revolutionized our understanding of the human brain, but the method is now approaching the limit of its capabilities. Alan Jasanoff hopes to break through this limit and to develop new technologies for imaging the molecular and cellular phenomena that underlie brain function.
Rebecca Saxe shares work that uncovers how the brain thinks about other peoples’ thoughts
Doris and Donald Berkey ’42, SM ’43, of Naples, Florida, have donated $3 million to endow an MIT Professorship in neuroscience, with Robert Desimone, Director of the McGovern Institute, as the first incumbent. Our decision to endow this chair reflects our belief that a better understanding of the brain will help to prevent some of […]
Although the tiny roundworm Caenorhabditis elegans has only 302 neurons in its entire nervous system, studies of this simple animal have significantly advanced our understanding of human brain function because it shares many genes and neurochemical signaling molecules with humans. Now MIT researchers have found novel C. elegans neurochemical receptors, the discovery of which could […]
2008 Scolnick Prize awarded to Michael Davis
The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT announced today that David Julius, a physiologist at the University of California at San Francisco (UCSF), will be the 2007 recipient of the Edward M. Scolnick Prize in Neuroscience. The Scolnick prize is awarded each year by the McGovern Institute to recognize an individual who has made […]
Leading researcher from Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School to discuss signaling networks that control synapse development and cognitive function
Are you tempted to trade in last year’s digital camera for a newer model with even more megapixels? Researchers who make images of the human brain have the same obsession with increasing their pixel count, which increases the sharpness (or “spatial resolution”) of their images. And improvements in spatial resolution are happening as fast in […]
Musicians perform a score composed by Tod Machover at the McGovern Institute Opening Ceremony in November 2005.
