Today, MIT Technology Review revealed its annual list of Innovators Under 35. For more than a decade, the publication has recognized a list of exceptionally talented technologists whose work has great potential to transform the world. For her work in biotechnology and medicine, Kay Tye, an assistant professor of brain and cognitive sciences and a member of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, has earned a spot on that list.
Tye pioneered the manipulation of specific projections in the brain. Specifically, she was the first to publish the demonstration, characterization, and application of both excitation and inhibition of specific neural pathways, or populations of synapses. Her work is said to have revolutionized the field of neuroscience by establishing causal relationships between specific populations of synapses and behavior.
“Over the years, we’ve had success in choosing young innovators whose work has been profoundly influential on the direction of human affairs,” the Technology Review's editor-in-chief and publisher Jason Pontin said. “Previous winners include Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the cofounders of Google; Mark Zuckerberg, the cofounder of Facebook; Jonathan Ive, the chief designer of Apple; and David Karp, the creator of Tumblr. We’re proud of our selections and the variety of achievements they celebrate, and we’re proud to add Kay Tye to this prestigious list.”
This year’s honorees will be featured online on the Technology Review's webpage starting today, and in the September/October print magazine, which hits newsstands worldwide on Sept. 2. They will appear in person at the upcoming EmTech MIT conference from Sept. 23–25 in Cambridge.
