The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

How do brains integrate sensory evidence over minutes to generate adaptive behaviors? A new Flavell lab preprint identifies C. elegans circuits that integrate aversive smells during foraging to control specific behavioral responses. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.06.04.729906v1

Congratulations to three students in Picower labs who have earned MIT HEALS Graduate Fellowships! Jessie Xiao (studying alpha synuclein in Parkinson's disease), Evan Ruesch (developing tools for optical physiology), & Emma Ibanez (studying sensory neurons in reproductive system).

Myriam Heiman named the director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory. Heiman, who studies neurodegenerative diseases such as Huntington’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, will lead the institute beginning July 1. https://picower.mit.edu/news/myriam-heiman-named-director-picower-institute-learning-and-memory
“I am honored to take on this role to support the Institute’s exceptional scientists and trainees as they pursue discoveries that deepen our understanding of the brain and improve human health,” Heiman says. MIT Brain and Cognitive Sciences