The McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT is led by a team of world-renowned neuroscientists committed to meeting two great challenges of modern science: understanding how the brain works and discovering new ways to prevent or treat brain disorders.
(5:06) 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 ...
(4:58) Ann Graybiel studies the basal ganglia, forebrain structures that are profoundly important for normal brain function but are also implicated in Parkinson's disease, Huntington's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and addiction. Learn more about Ann Graybiel>> [Stock footage ...
(4:27) Ed Boyden, a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, develops new strategies for manipulating brain activity. He uses a wide variety of technologies to find new and more potent ways to alter brain function, for both research and therapeutic purposes. A major goal of ...
(4:09) Emilio Bizzi examines how the brain translates our general intentions into the detailed commands needed to control muscle movements. One of his key discoveries is that groups of muscles are activated synergistically by circuits of neurons in the spinal cord. He believes that these ...
(4:12) Feng Zhang, a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, is designing new molecular tools for manipulating the living brain. As a student, he played a major role in the development of optogenetics, a technology by which the brain's electrical activity can be controlled ...
Guoping Feng, an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, studies the development and function of synapses and their disruption in brain disorders. He uses molecular genetics combined with behavioral and electrophysiological methods to ...
James DiCarlo, an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT, examines the complex network of brain regions that allow us to recognize vast numbers of objects rapidly and effortlessly. Learn more about James DiCarlo >>
(4:25) John Gabrieli, a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, uses brain imaging and behavioral tests to understand the organization of memory, thought, and emotion in the human brain. Learn more about John Gabrieli>> [Stock footage courtesy pond5, Elekta Instrument AB]
(02:19) Ki Goosens, an Assistant Professor in MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and an Investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, studies the relationship between fear, anxiety, and stress. Learn more about Ki Goosens >>
Michale Fee, an investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, studies birdsong in order to understand how the brain learns and generates complex sequences of behavior. Learn more about Michale Fee [images courtesy of pond5]
(4:42) Nancy Kanwisher, a founding member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, uses brain imaging to learn about the organization of the mind. Learn more about Nancy Kanwisher [Images/video courtesy of pond5, Joshua Julian]
(4:37) Robert Desimone is director of the McGovern Institute and formerly the head of intramural research at the National Institute of Mental Health. Desimone also runs his own lab at the McGovern Institute, where he studies the brain mechanisms underlying attention. Learn more about Bob ...
The Poitras Center for Affective Disorders Research was established in 2007 through a generous gift by Patricia and James Poitras '63 to the McGovern Institute for Brain Research to support research into the causes of depression, bipolar disorder, and other major ...
(5:43) Tomaso Poggio develops computational models of brain function in order to understand human intelligence and to build intelligent machines that can mimic human performance. Learn more about Tomaso Poggio>> [Stock footage courtesy pond5, istockphoto]
(3:42) Yingxi Lin, a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, uses molecular, genetic, and electrophysiological methods to understand how inhibitory circuits form within the brain, and how they are shaped by activity and experience. Learn more about Yingxi Lin >> [Stock ...
Researchers have developed a way to monitor how brain cells coordinate with each other to control specific behaviors, such as initiating movement or detecting an odor.
This animation illustrates optogenetics -- a radical new technology for controlling brain activity with light. Ed Boyden, the co-inventor of this technology, is a professor at the MIT Media Lab and at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research, where he continues to develop new technologies ...
This animation illustrates optogenetics — a radical new technology for controlling brain activity with light.
(01:21:48) On Thursday, October 20th, leading experts from the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and the American Parkinson Disease Association discussed cutting edge advances in Parkinson's disease research and provided perspective on what the future holds ...
"Choosing good objects – a basal ganglia mechanism" Speaker: Okihide HikosakaAffiliation: Laboratory of Sensorimotor Research, National Eye Institute, NIHDate: Thursday, March 1 Abstract: Many objects around us have values which have been acquired through ...
