Dopamine signals when a fear can be forgotten

Study shows how a dopamine circuit between two brain regions enables mice to extinguish fear after a peril has passed.

Dangers come but dangers also go and when they do, the brain has an “all-clear” signal that teaches it to extinguish its fear. A new study in mice by MIT neuroscientists shows that the signal is the release of dopamine along a specific interregional brain circuit. The research therefore pinpoints a potentially critical mechanism of mental health, restoring calm when it works, but prolonging anxiety or even post-traumatic stress disorder when it doesn’t. Story continues>>

In kids, EEG monitoring of consciousness safely reduces anesthetic use, improves outcomes

Clinical trial finds several outcomes improved for young children when an anesthesiologist observed their brain waves to guide dosing of sevoflurane during surgery.

Newly published results of a randomized, controlled clinical trial in Japan among more than 170 children aged 1 to 6 who underwent surgery, show that by using EEG readings of brain waves to monitor unconsciousness, an anesthesiologist can significantly reduce the amount of the anesthesia administered to safely induce and sustain each patient’s anesthetized state. On average the little patients experienced significant improvements in several post-operative outcomes, including quicker recovery and reduced incidence of delirium. Story continues>>

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Study provides new evidence that sensory stimulation of gamma-frequency brain rhythm may promote a broad-based restorative neurological health response.

In the latest research on 40Hz sensory stimulation at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and Alana Down Syndrome Center at MIT, scientists found that the technology improved cognition and circuit connectivity and encouraged the growth of new neurons in mice genetically engineered to model Down syndrome. Story continues>>

Molecules that fight infection also act on the brain, inducing anxiety or sociability

New research on a cytokine called IL-17 adds to growing evidence that immune molecules can influence behavior during illness.

Two new studies from MIT and Harvard Medical School, focused on a cytokine called IL-17, add to evidence that such immune system molecules influence the brain, leading to behavioral changes during illness. The researchers found that IL-17 acts on two distinct brain regions — the amygdala and the somatosensory cortex — to exert two divergent effects. In the amygdala, IL-17 can elicit feelings of anxiety, while in the cortex it promotes sociable behavior.  Story continues>>

A simple animal’s response to sickness highlights the nervous system’s surprising degrees of flexibility

Upon infection, the C. elegans worm reshuffles the roles of brain cells and flips the functions of some of the chemicals it uses to regulate behavior.

Whether you are a person about town or a worm in a dish, life can throw all kinds of circumstances your way. What you need is a nervous system flexible enough to cope. In a new study, MIT neuroscientists show how even a simple animal can switch many gears in its brain to muster an adaptive response to an infection. Story continues>>

Gloria Choi earns Samsung Ho-Am Prize for Medicine

Honor recognizes Choi’s research on connections between the immune and central nervous systems and their relevance to autism and other disorders

The Ho-Am Foundation has selected Gloria Choi, Associate Professor in The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT, to receive the 2025 Samsung Ho-Am Prize for Medicine. Story continues>>

With Searle Scholar award, Fan will study serotonin role in memory

Assistant Professor Linlin Fan will apply her lab’s precise “all-optical” techniques to study how serotonin might influence plasticity in memory, and whether psychedelics affect that.

There is a paradox in the brain’s role as a memory making organ: It has to be flexible, or “plastic,” enough to incorporate new information yet stable enough to keep the information it stores enduringly available. With a new Searle Scholar Award, MIT neuroscientist Linlin Fan will launch a study to determine how the neuromodulatory chemical serotonin may help the brain overcome the challenge. Story continues>>

MIT Down syndrome researchers work on ways to ensure a healthy lifespan

An Alana Down Syndrome Center webinar, co-sponsored by the Massachusetts Down Syndrome Congress, presented numerous MIT studies that all share the goal of improving health throughout life for people with trisomy 21

In recent decades the life expectancy of people with Down syndrome has surged past 60 years, so the focus of research at the Alana Down Syndrome Center at MIT has been to make sure people can enjoy the best health during that increasing timeframe. In a webinar April 17, Alana Center scientists described the center’s work toward that goal. Story continues>>

A note about events: Event schedules and details are subject to change. Please check associated links frequently in advance of events that interest you.

Save the date for The Aging Brain Initiative Symposium: September 18, 2025

Join us on Thursday, September 18, 2025 at The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory for a full day of talks and a trainee poster session exploring the neuro-immune axis and the aging brain with the keynote delivered by Michal Schwartz of the Weizmann Institute of Science. Check back for the schedule and registration page soon.

Keynote Speaker:

Michal Schwartz, Weizmann Institute of Science

Featured Speakers:

• Isaac Chiu, Harvard Medical School

• Marco Colonna, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

• Jonathan Kipnis, Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

• Sarkis Mazmanian, California Institute of Technology

• Sara Prescott, Picower Institute, MIT

• Asya Rolls, Technion-Israel Institute of Technology

• Beth Stevens, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School

• Kevin Tracey, Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research at Northwell Health

Save the date  for The Picower Institute's Fall Symposium: October 21, 2025

Join us Tuesday Oct. 21 for the Institute's Fall Symposium, "Circuits of Survival and Homeostasis," hosted by Assistant Professor Sara Prescott. Confirmed speakers include: 

• Ya-Chieh Hsu, PhD, Harvard 
• Zachary Knight, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, HHMI
• Qin Liu, PhD, Washington University in St. Louis
• Yuki Oka, PhD, Caltech
• Clifford B. Saper, Harvard 
• Li Ye, PhD, Scripps Research Institute, HHMI

Check back for the schedule and registration page soon.

Brain and Cognitive Sciences colloquia

• May 8, Joni Wallis, UC Berkeley

All colloquia begin at 4 p.m. in Singleton Auditorium, MIT Building 46

Aging Brain Initiative Seminars

• May 12, Andrew Yoo, Washington University
• August 5, Ramon C. Sun, University of Florida
• December 8, Kang Shen, Stanford University

Seminars begin at 4 p.m. in the Picower Seminar Room, MIT Building 46