The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory is, along with the

McGovern Institute for Brain Research The McGovern Institute for Brain Research is a research institute within MIT. Its mission is to understand how the brain works and to discover new ways to prevent or treat brain disorders. The institute was founded in 2000 by Patrick McGover ...

and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, one of the three

neuroscience Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...

groups at

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

. The institute is focused on studying all aspects of learning and memory; specifically, it has received over

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

50 million to study

Alzheimer's Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in remembering recent events. As t ...

schizophrenia Schizophrenia is a mental disorder characterized by continuous or relapsing episodes of psychosis. Major symptoms include hallucinations (typically hearing voices), delusions, and disorganized thinking. Other symptoms include social withdra ...

and similar diseases. When it was established in 1994, the institute was primarily funded by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, the

RIKEN Brain Science Institute RIKEN Brain Science Institute (RIKEN-BSI) was established in 1997 as part of RIKEN, focusing on neuroscience research located in Wakō city, Saitama Prefecture in the greater Tokyo area, Japan. In 2018 RIKEN-BSI has been reorganized as RIKEN ...

and the

National Institute of Mental Health The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The NIH, in turn, is an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services and is the prima ...

. It was renamed after a $50 million grant by the Picower Foundation in 2002. On July 1, 2009, Professor

Li-Huei Tsai Li-Huei Tsai () is a neuroscientist and the director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory in the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is known for her work on neurological diso ...

became the director of the Picower Institute. The institute was directed by founder and

Nobel Prize The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...

laureate Susumu Tonegawa until he resigned on December 31, 2006, motivated by his belief that “a new generation of leadership is needed.”

Notes

External links

Official website
{{authority control Massachusetts Institute of Technology Cognitive science research institutes Neuroscience research centers in the United States Research institutes in Massachusetts