McGovern Institute

McGovern Institute investigator and brain and cognitive sciences Assistant Professor Mark Harnett has been named a 2018 Vallee Scholar.

Mark Harnett named Vallee Foundation Scholar

MIT neuroscientist is among five people selected to receive the early career award.

September 14, 2018

MIT neuroscientists have devised a way to measure dopamine in the brain for more than a year, using microfabricated sensors that are so tiny they don’t lead to the formation of scar tissue.

New sensors track dopamine in the brain for more than a year

Tiny probes could be useful for monitoring patients with Parkinson’s and other diseases.

September 12, 2018

New findings may help scientists better understand how some of the crippling effects of depression and anxiety arise, and guide them in developing new treatments.

Neuroscientists get at the roots of pessimism

Stimulating the brain’s caudate nucleus generates a negative outlook that clouds decision-making.

August 9, 2018

Michale Fee studies how the brain learns and generates complex sequential behaviors, with a focus on the songbird as a model system.

Michale Fee receives McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Award

The McKnight technology award supports scientists using novel and creative approaches to understanding brain function.

July 20, 2018

Left to right: Laurie Boyer, Matt Shoulders, and Feng Zhang.

Advancing knowledge in medical and genetic sciences

Three MIT faculty members selected for funding from the G. Harold and Leila Y. Mathers Foundation.

June 26, 2018

A new study from MIT has found that piano lessons have a very specific effect on kindergartners’ ability to distinguish different pitches, which translates into an improvement in discriminating between spoken words.

How music lessons can improve language skills

Study links piano education with better word discrimination by kindergartners.

June 25, 2018

Mehrdad Jazayeri, the Robert A. Swanson Career Development Professor of Life Sciences, a member of MIT’s McGovern Institute for Brain Research, and the senior author of the study.

How the brain performs flexible computations

New neural model reveals how the brain adapts to new information.

June 6, 2018

Ed Boyden (left) and Feng Zhang have been named HHMI investigators.

Ed Boyden and Feng Zhang named Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators

MIT faculty members are among 19 top scientists selected from across the nation.

May 23, 2018

MIT neuroscientists explain why some people hear "Yanny" and others hear "Laurel" in the audio clip that has taken the world by storm.

Featured video: The neuroscience behind "Yanny" vs. "Laurel"

MIT grad students explain why some people hear "Yanny" and others hear "Laurel" in the audio clip that's taken the world by storm.

May 17, 2018

Ann Graybiel wins 2018 Gruber Neuroscience Prize

MIT neuroscientist is recognized for her pioneering work on the complexity and function of the basal ganglia.

May 16, 2018

Biologists compared C. elegans embryos missing the alfa-1 gene, right, to those with the gene, left. At bottom right, abnormal blobs of yolk labeled with a fluorescent protein can be seen in the embryo lacking alfa-1.

Biologists discover function of gene linked to familial ALS

Study in worms reveals gene loss can lead to accumulation of waste products in cells.

May 4, 2018