Simons Center for the Social Brain

SCSB Lunch Series with Dr. Yunjin Lee: Brain-wide mapping of immune receptors uncovers a neuro-modulatory role of interleukin-17E and the receptor IL-17RB
2025-02-28 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, February 28, 2025
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom (https://mit.zoom.us/j/93152386467)
Speaker: Dr. Yunjin Lee
Affiliation: Postdoctoral Researcher, Jun Huh Lab, Harvard Medical School
Talk title: Brain-wide mapping of immune receptors uncovers a neuro-modulatory role of interleukin-17E and the receptor IL-17RB
Abstract: Cytokines and their receptors regulate diverse processes, including immune responses and behavior. Our brain-wide mapping of IL-17 receptor subunits revealed that IL-17RB expression in the cortex plays a key role in modulating social behaviors. We further demonstrated that IL-17E, acting on IL-17RB-expressing cortical neurons, enhances social interaction, highlighting a novel neuro-immune circuit that links cytokine signaling to behavioral outcomes.

SCSB Lunch Series with Dr. Emalie McMahon: The computational basis of human social vision
2025-02-14 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, February 14, 2025
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom (https://mit.zoom.us/j/99342137501)
Speaker: Dr. Emalie McMahon
Affiliation: Postdoctoral Associate, Nancy Kanwisher Lab, McGovern Institute, MIT
Talk title: The computational basis of human social vision
Abstract: Understanding the social interactions of others is a fundamental human ability that relies on complex neural processes and shapes our social decisions. My work focuses on uncovering the computational mechanisms behind this process, particularly the visual basis of this ability. By combining psychology, neuroscience, and computer science, I have demonstrated how the brain organizes and processes social-visual information, particular its reliance on hierarchical spatiotemporal computations. I also explored the limitations of artificial intelligence in modeling human social perception, revealing significant gaps compared to human social perception. My research advances our understanding of how the brain perceives social interactions, informs the development of socially intelligent AI, and provides a mechanistic basis for characterizing typical and atypical development, such as autism.

SCSB Colloquium Series with Dr. Robert C. Froemke: Love, Death, and Oxytocin: The Challenges of Mouse Maternity
2025-02-05 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, February 5, 2025
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)
Speaker: Robert C. Froemke, PhD
Affiliation: Skirball Professor of Genetics, Neuroscience Institute and Department of Otolaryngology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Hosts: Dr. Mriganka Sur, Dr. Rawan AlSubaie
Talk title: Love, Death, and Oxytocin: The Challenges of Mouse Maternity
Abstract: The neuropeptide oxytocin is important for maternal physiology and social behavior. I will discuss new and unpublished data from our lab on when, where, and how oxytocin is released from hypothalamic neurons to enable maternal behavior in new mother mice. I will focus on maternal responses to infant distress calls, and how oxytocin enables rapid neurobehavioral changes for dams and alloparents to recognize the meaning of these calls. We have built a new system combining 24/7 continuous video monitoring with neural recordings from the auditory cortex and oxytocin neurons of the hypothalamus in vivo. With this documentary approach, we have identified behaviors of experienced and naïve adults learning to co-parent together which also activate oxytocin neurons. I will discuss circuits routing sensory information to oxytocin neurons leading to oxytocin release in target areas important for maternal motivation, and new results on how oxytocin controls gestation and parturition. Finally, I will discuss longer-term behavioral monitoring over months, examining how single mothers build nests to help ensure pup survival or how this sometimes goes awry.

SCSB Colloquium Series with Dr. Katalin M. Gothard: Interoceptive signals bias perception and decision making
2024-12-11 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)
Speaker: Katalin M. Gothard, M.D., Ph.D.
Affiliation: Professor of Physiology, College of Medicine, The University of Arizona
Host: Dr. Mehrdad Jazayeri
Talk title: Interoceptive signals bias perception and decision making
Abstract: Grooming by a trusted social partner represents the macaque equivalent of affective touch in humans. In both species, affective touch induces vagal tone, a hallmark of positive affect. In this socio-emotional context, instead of responding to each sweep, neurons in the amygdala respond to a bout of grooming with small but sustained alterations in baseline firing rates. We hypothesize that these small but consistent baseline changes are driven by interoceptive afferents signaling the body’s physiological state to the brain as part of the coordinated brain-body state of positive affect. To test this hypothesis, we manipulated the physiological state of the body using drugs with minimal or no direct effect on the brain and measured the resulting changes in the spontaneous activity of neurons in the brain. We observed a clear correlation between heart rate and baseline neuronal firing rates in the amygdala and somatosensory areas, suggesting that the spontaneous neural activity closely tracks fluctuations in internal physiological states. To determine the putative cognitive and behavioral consequence of different body states we measured the changes in decision making induced by the drugs that altered baseline firing rates. Monkeys performed an approach-avoidance conflict task, where they had the option to either endure a mildly aversive (but not painful) stimulus in exchange for juice reward or to end the trial by terminating both the aversive stimulus and the reward. Drug-induced sympathetic-dominated states reduced the monkeys’ tolerance for aversive stimuli, indicating a causal relationship between physiological states and decision-making. Ongoing studies explore where and how interoceptive afferents bias decision making in the brain.

SCSB Lunch Series with Dr. Francisco Garcia: Distinct glio-vascular interactions and contributions to cerebrovascular function
2024-12-06 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, December 6, 2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom (https://mit.zoom.us/j/92275778173)
Speaker: Dr. Francisco Garcia
Affiliation: Postdoctoral Associate, Myriam Heiman Lab, PILM, MIT
Talk title: Distinct glio-vascular interactions and contributions to cerebrovascular function
Abstract: With advances in single cell technologies, it is now possible to define molecular profiles for distinct populations of cells in the brain. However, cells that comprise the cerebrovasculature have been historically difficult to capture until recently. In our work, we have developed methods for capturing cerebrovascular cell types for single-nucleus RNA sequencing (snRNA-seq) from both mouse and human brains. In doing so, we have identified a subpopulation of astrocytes that exhibits a distinct gene expression signature more closely associated with vascular function. In this seminar, I will discuss our on-going efforts to characterize these vasculature-coupled astrocytes (vc-astrocytes) in both mice and humans as well as their possible roles in brain homeostasis.

Autism and Neurodevelopmental Disorders: Past, Present, and Future
2024-11-15 14:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States

SCSB Colloquium Series with Dr. Elizabeth V. Goldfarb: Insights into multiple memory processes through studying stress and drinking
2024-11-13 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)
Speaker: Elizabeth V. Goldfarb, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and of Psychology, Yale University
Host: Dr. Ev Fedorenko
Talk title: Insights into multiple memory processes through studying stress and drinking
Abstract: We remember our experiences in many different ways, varying in detail, integration, and flexibility. In this talk, I will discuss work from my lab examining how stress and drinking transform our memories, and the consequences of memory for later choices. Using new behavioral tasks and neuroimaging methods, I address questions including: what kinds of memories are prioritized following stress or trauma? How do stress and alcohol history make certain memories stronger? What are the consequences of memory biases for experiment-based decisions and real-world behavior? In answering these questions, I highlight inspiration from tasks developed in nonhuman animal models, and how memory processes can provide a bridge to translate insights across species and disorders. This work uncovers consequential and dynamic interactions between affect and our multifaceted memories.

SCSB Lunch Series with Earl Miller: Understanding and mitigating sensory overload
2024-11-08 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, November 8, 2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom [https://mit.zoom.us/j/98092241987]
Speaker: Earl K. Miller, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Picower Professor of Neuroscience, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, MIT
Talk title: Understanding and mitigating sensory overload
Abstract: Our research indicates that brain waves serve distinct functions. High-frequency waves carry sensory data, while low-frequency waves act as control signals. The interplay between these waves regulates sensory processing and control mechanisms. Imbalances in this system may contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders. Excessive high-frequency activity could lead to attention issues or sensory overload, while insufficient high-frequency activity might be linked to psychosis. We’re working to understand the role of brain waves and how balancing them could provide treatments for various neuropsychiatric conditions.

Special Seminar with Dr. Jacque Pak Kan Ip: Functional and Molecular Dissection of Cortical Visual Impairment in CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder
2024-11-01 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, November 1, 2024
Location: Simons Center Conference room, 46-6011 + Zoom [https://mit.zoom.us/j/99250543803]
Speaker: Jacque Pak Kan Ip, Ph.D.
Affiliation: School of Biomedical Sciences, Gerald Choa Neuroscience Institute, The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Host: Dr. Mriganka Sur
Talk title: Functional and Molecular Dissection of Cortical Visual Impairment in CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder
Abstract: CDKL5 deficiency disorder (CDD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder linked to the X chromosome and caused by genetic deficits in Cyclin Dependent Kinase-like 5 (CDKL5). Initially categorized as the early-onset-seizure variant of Rett syndrome, CDD is now recognized as a distinct condition with its own ICD-10 code (G40.42) assigned by the World Health Organization. However, CDD remains relatively understudied compared to other X-linked neurodevelopmental disorders such as Rett syndrome and Fragile X syndrome. Individuals with CDD experience a range of symptoms, including global developmental delay, motor dysfunction, early-onset epilepsy, learning disabilities, and autistic features. Notably, cortical visual impairment is a common clinical feature observed in at least 75% of CDD patients. Although cortical visual impairment has been suggested as a potential functional biomarker, the developmental and specific mechanisms underlying sensory processing impairments caused by CDKL5 deficits are not well understood. CDKL5 is a serine/threonine kinase, and several substrates have been identified. While research has provided insights into its molecular and cellular functions of CDKL5, its direct connection to the microcircuit development and cortical visual impairment seen in CDD is yet to be established. To address this, our study utilizes a CDD mouse model and employs in vivo two-photon calcium imaging to investigate how CDKL5 deficiency in the primary visual cortex (V1) contribute to developmental and functional deficits. Our findings reveal that Cdkl5 mutant mice exhibit impaired orientation selectivity, binocular integration, decreased neural signal amplitude, reduced neural coding ability, and network dysfunction, as observed through in vivo two-photon calcium imaging. Through a phospho-proteomics screen, we identify novel CDKL5 substrates. We further demonstrate that the absence of CDKL5 phosphorylation on the novel substrates leads to abnormal formation of RNA granules by affecting the dynamic process of liquid-liquid phase separation. Notably, deficits in the phosphorylation of the substrates alone are sufficient to induce cortical visual impairment similar to that observed in CDD. In summary, our study highlights circuit-specific cortical impairments in a CDD mouse model and uncovers a novel mechanism involving CDKL5. These findings provide insights into potential therapeutic strategies for CDD and shed light on the understanding of this complex neurodevelopmental disorder.

SCSB Colloquium Series with Dr. Yang Zhou: A Role of ASD-associated CHD8 in Reactive Gliosis and Neuroinflammation in the Adult Brain
2024-10-30 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)
Speaker: Yang Zhou, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University
Host: Dr. Robert Desimone

Talk title: A Role of ASD-associated CHD8 in Reactive Gliosis and Neuroinflammation in the Adult Brain
Abstract: Mutation of genes encoding synaptic proteins and chromatin remodeling factors represents two categories of risk genes for ASD and neurodevelopmental disorders. Understanding gene function and modeling diseases with relevant mutations constitute substantial tasks in fundamental neuroscience. While encouraging progress has been made in deciphering synaptic gene mutation and modeling associated NDDs, there remains much to do and learn about chromatin remodeling factors. In this talk, I would like to share our study on the function and mechanisms of an ASD-associated chromatin factor (CHD8) in gliosis and neuroinflammation. Given that excessive reactive gliosis and neuroinflammation are hallmark features in neurodegeneration and brain injury. I will introduce ongoing efforts and discuss the potential of targeting CHD8 for alleviating neuroinflammation and brain pathophysiology in experimental models of neurological disorders.

SCSB Colloquium Series with Dr. Michael J Frank: From Descriptive to Normative Accounts of Frontostriatal Control
2024-10-16 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Michael Frank Edgar L. Marston Professor of Psychology, Director of the Center for Computational Brain Science
Date: Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)
Speaker: Michael J Frank, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Edgar L Marston Professor of Cognitive & Psychological Sciences; Professor of Brain Science; Director Carney Center for Computational Brain Science, Brown University
Host: Dr. Ann Graybiel
Talk title: From Descriptive to Normative Accounts of Frontostriatal Control
Abstract: The basal ganglia and dopaminergic (DA) systems are well studied for their roles in reinforcement learning, but the underlying architecture is notoriously complex. First, I will present a computational account of how this complexity is optimized to provide robust advantages over traditional reinforcement learning models over a range of environments, and suggest that empirical observations of altered learning and decision making in patient populations reflect a byproduct of an otherwise normative mechanism. Second, I will show how this system, when interacting with prefrontal cortex, can learn to influence cognitive actions such as working memory updating and “chunking” strategies that are adapted as function of task demands, mimicking human performance and normative models.

SCSB Lunch Series with Dr. Lace Riggs: Anteromedial thalamocortical communication: Unexpected roles in affective cognition
2024-10-11 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, October 11, 2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom [https://mit.zoom.us/j/98067736560]
Speaker: Lace Riggs, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Postdoctoral Fellow, Guoping Feng Lab, McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT and Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard
Talk title: Anteromedial thalamocortical communication: Unexpected roles in affective cognition
Abstract: Thalamocortical circuit dysfunction is implicated in the pathophysiology of neurodevelopmental conditions like autism. However, an outstanding question is how the thalamus regulates complex emotional and cognitive processes through its extensive corticolimbic projections. In this talk, I will show how the anteromedial nucleus of the thalamus (AM) can serve as a model substrate to understand the role of higher order thalamocortical circuits in both health and disease. While the function of AM is largely unknown, it is the major thalamic projection to the cingulate cortex, which is a subregion of the prefrontal cortex that is highly implicated in the social, emotional, and cognitive aspects of autism. I find that AM constrains cingulate activity through strong disynaptic feedforward inhibition and can dynamically shift cingulate activity toward hyperexcitability in response to aversive stimuli, altering the course of conflict-based decision-making. By forming reciprocal monosynaptic connections exclusively with the cingulate cortex, AM is able to serve a unique role in regulating affective cognition. Ongoing studies aim to provide novel insight into how affective states govern higher-order cognitive processes by examining cell-type specific mechanisms of thalamocortical dysfunction in preclinical models of autism.

SCSB Lunch Series: Toward an understanding of how the cerebello-thalamocortical pathway supports cognition [Gabriel Stine, Ph.D.]
2024-09-27 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, September 27, 2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom [https://mit.zoom.us/j/95345061608]
Speaker: Gabriel Stine, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Postdoctoral Fellow, Jazayeri Lab, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT
Talk title: Toward an understanding of how the cerebello-thalamocortical pathway supports cognition
Abstract: Mounting evidence suggests the cerebellum plays a critical role in cognitive function, and cerebellar abnormalities are common in individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). In motor control, the cerebellum enables smooth, coordinated, and adaptable movements by forming internal models that predict the sensory consequences of actions, which are used to quickly correct errors and adapt to changes in the environment. An intriguing hypothesis is that the cerebellum plays a similar role in cognitive function, facilitating smooth, coordinated, and adaptable thought processes. In this talk, I will present our ongoing efforts to test this hypothesis in macaque monkeys. We developed a timing adaptation task in which subjects must predict the timing of events in the environment and use these predictions to improve and adapt their internal timekeeping. We are conducting large-scale, simultaneous recordings in the cerebello-thalamocortical pathway as monkeys perform this task. I will present preliminary findings that suggest the cerebellum plays an important role in modulating the monkey’s internal timekeeping based on prediction errors. Ultimately, we hope to develop a computational and circuit-level understanding of how the cerebellum supports cognitive function and generate new hypotheses about how this process is altered in ASD.

SCSB Lunch Series: From words to worlds: bridging language and thought for language-informed thinking
2024-09-13 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, September 13, 2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom [https://mit.zoom.us/j/93456739273]
Speaker: Lio Wong, Ph.D.
Affiliation: MIT Postdoctoral Researcher, Tenenbaum Lab, BCS, MIT
Talk title: From words to worlds: bridging language and thought for language-informed thinking
Abstract: What do we understand when we understand language? Human language offers a broad window into the landscape of our thoughts. We talk about what we see, believe, and imagine, posing questions and communicating our plans. Language, in turn, stocks our mental inventories with new concepts and theories, communicating ideas that we might not otherwise have discovered by thinking on our own even over the course of a lifetime. How do we make meaning from language, and how, in turn, does the meaning we construct from language draw on the other resources and capacities of human thought, from perception, to mental simulation and decision making? In this talk, I’ll overview an overarching framework, Rational Meaning Construction, which proposes how natural language can construct arbitrary expressions in a flexible, symbolic, and probabilistic language of thought that supports general inferences. I present examples and experiments demonstrating the range of this theory, modeling how concrete propositions and questions in language can update and query beliefs about the physical and social world. I’ll then present newer work showing how the same framework can be used to construct and propose world models from scratch that can be used to make sense of new language, and to relate language to decision making and planning.

SCSB Colloquium Series: Nancy Padilla-Coreano, Ph.D.
2024-09-11 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, September 11, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)
Speaker: Nancy Padilla-Coreano, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Neuroscience, University of Florida
Host: Dr. Steve Flavell
Talk title: Neural dynamics of social competence
Abstract: Most social species, from insects to humans, organize into social dominance hierarchies to decrease aggression, conserve energy, and maximize survival for the group. Despite how critical social and dominance behaviors are for successful interactions with other group members, it is unclear how the brain encodes social rank. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) has been implicated in social dominance expression in rodents, and in social rank learning in humans. In this talk we uncover how the mPFC encodes social competition at the cell, circuit and network levels in mice.

SCSB Colloquium Series: Experiencing and understanding prosocial motivations in infancy and early childhood [Lindsey Powell, Ph.D.]
2024-05-22 16:00 - 17:00 UTC | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, May 22, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium)
Speaker: Lindsey Powell, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Psychology, University of California San Diego
Host: Dr. Rebecca Saxe
Talk title: Experiencing and understanding prosocial motivations in infancy and early childhood
Abstract: Human prosociality is critical for both individuals and societies to thrive. In the first two years of life, infants begin both to engage in prosocial behavior and to recognize and evaluate the prosocial actions of others. In the first part of the talk, I will describe an fNIRS study investigating the neural correlates of helping behavior in 14- to 20-month-old toddlers. We find that responses in brain regions associated with adult feelings of empathic concern and distress (MPFC, SII), measured while participants watch videos of an actor in mild distress, are correlated with toddlers’ helping behavior. In the second part of the talk, I will describe a series of studies aimed at investigating how infants and children reason about others’ prosocial motivations, with a focus on their representations of affiliative relationships.

SCSB Lunch Series: Role of FMRP interactions with presynaptic ion channels in Fragile X Syndrome
2024-05-10 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, May 10, 2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom Meeting: https://mit.zoom.us/j/91647033337
Speaker: Chhavi Sood, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Postdoctoral Fellow, Littleton Lab, Picower Institute, BCS, Department of Biology, MIT
Talk title: Role of FMRP interactions with presynaptic ion channels in Fragile X Syndrome
Abstract: Synaptic vesicle (SV) fusion occurs in response to Ca2+ influx from voltage-gated Ca2+ channels (VGCCs) at AZs. Multiple conserved proteins cluster SVs and VGCCs at the AZs. Additionally, BK channels (Ca2+-activated K+ channels) also cluster at AZs to rapidly repolarize the presynaptic membrane, close VGCCs, and terminate Ca2+ influx and SV release. Using the Drosophila model of Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) and neuromuscular junction, I aim to determine how FMRP controls VGCC and BK channel synaptic delivery and AZ abundance and how dysregulation of these interactions contributes to synaptic defects in FXS.

SCSB Lunch Series: Neural oscillation and sensory prediction in children with autism
2024-04-26 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, April 26, 2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom Meeting: https://mit.zoom.us/j/92247387492
Speaker: Winko An, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Boston Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School
Talk title: Neural oscillation and sensory prediction in children with autism
Abstract: The brain’s ability to automatically predict sensory information is key to perception. Predicted inputs are attenuated, while unexpected inputs are amplified and processed. Alteration in this “predictive coding” mechanism may contribute to autism characteristics, such as increased prediction errors and hypersensitivity, and is hypothesized to be associated with the imbalance between alpha/beta and gamma oscillations in brain signals. I will present a new study aimed at testing this hypothesis using EEG recordings from three groups of participants with different degrees of functional impairment – children with typical development, autism, and Phelan-McDermid syndrome. Preliminary findings on oscillatory power and neural response to oddballs among these groups will be shared.

SCSB Colloquium: Understanding and conquering pain [Clifford Woolf, M.B., B.Ch., Ph.D.,]
2024-04-24 16:00 - 17:00 UTC | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium). Please note this event will take place in person only
Speaker: Clifford Woolf, M.B., B.Ch., Ph.D.
Affiliation: Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology/Director of FM Kirby Neurobiology Center, Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
Talk title: Understanding and conquering pain
Abstract: Pain is one of the major challenges of contemporary medicine in terms of its high incidence, persistence in many patients, and the poor efficacy and adverse effects of most analgesics, as well as the contribution of prescription opioids to the opioid crisis. I would like to share our approach to studying the mechanisms of physiological and pathological pain both in preclinical rodent models using chronic nociceptive circuit recordings and a machine-learning based interrogation of pain-related behavior, and by studying human pain in a dish with iPSC-derived neurons, as well as a platform we have put together for identifying novel analgesics without an abuse liability.
Bio: Dr. Clifford J. Woolf was born in South Africa, where he earned his MB, BCh, and Ph.D. degrees. He then moved to London and became Professor of Neurobiology at University College London. In 1997 he was recruited by the Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School to serve as the Richard J. Kitz Professor of Anesthesiology Research and director of the Neural Plasticity Research Group. In 2010 he was named director of the F. M. Kirby Neurobiology Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and became Professor of Neurology and Neurobiology at HMS. He is faculty both in the department of Neurobiology at Harvard Medical School and in the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. In 2022 he was appointed the Blackfan-Diamond Chair of Neuroscience Research at Boston Children’s. In 2020 Dr. Woolf was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and was awarded a Doctoris Honoris Causa from the University of Lausanne, Switzerland, he received a Gill Distinguished Scientist award and the Reeve-Irvine medal in 2017, and in 2015, the Kerr award from the American Pain Society. He has published over 320 research papers on molecular, cellular, and systems neurobiology and has 35 issued patents. He has an h-index of 166 and 124,000 citations. His research is devoted to investigating how the functional, chemical, and structural plasticity of neurons is involved in both the normal adaptive functions of the nervous system and in maladaptive changes that contribute to neurological diseases, with a particular focus on pain, regeneration, and neurodegeneration and on the exploitation of stem cell derived neurons to model disease and for drug screening. Dr. Woolf has founded several companies and is a consultant and SAB member for several pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

SCSB Lunch Series: Social exposure to sickness enhances resilience to infection
2024-04-05 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, April 5, 2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom Meeting (https://mit.zoom.us/j/98747295231)
Speaker: Tomoe Ishikawa, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Postdoctoral Fellow, Choi Lab, Picower Institute, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
Talk title: Social exposure to sickness enhances resilience to infection
Abstract: Animals change their social engagement based on the health status of their conspecifics to minimize infectious risk. However, it remains unclear whether animals also adjust their own immune status by detecting sick individuals. We have found that prior exposure to sick cagemates alleviates symptoms induced by viral and bacterial infections. This indicates that animals have a proactive immune response upon detecting sickness in their conspecifics. Furthermore, we demonstrated that exposure to sick animals activates an amygdala nucleus, and chemogenetic activation of this amygdala nucleus is sufficient to mitigate signs induced by viral and bacterial infections. These findings suggest that neuroimmune interactions activated by the detection of sick conspecifics modulate the immune system to better cope with subsequent pathogenic infections.

SCSB Colloquium Series: How Nature and Nurture Conspire to Regulate Brain Development and Plasticity [Michael Greenberg, Ph.D.]
2024-03-20 16:00 - 17:00 UTC | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium). Please note this event is in person only
Speaker: Michael Greenberg, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Nathan Marsh Pusey Professor of Neurobiology, Harvard Medical School
Host: Dr. Mriganka Sur
Talk title: How Nature and Nurture Conspire to Regulate Brain Development and Plasticity
Abstract: Experience-dependent neuronal activity plays a critical role in shaping the connectivity and function of the central nervous system. These actions are mediated in part by the action of a program of neuronal activity-driven gene expression. Investigation of these gene expression programs has uncovered important roles in dendritic growth, the development of excitatory and inhibitory synapses, the composition of protein complexes at pre- and post-synaptic sites, and the production of neuropeptides that control neural circuit development. Moreover, defects in the activity-dependent gene program contribute to disorders of human cognition. Thus, study of this transcriptional response promises new insights into neuronal plasticity and disease.

SCSB Lunch Series: Quantifying correlations between linguistic surprisal, prosody, and backchannels in naturalistic conversation
2024-03-15 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, March 15, 2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom Meeting (https://mit.zoom.us/j/98903444024)
Speaker: Thomas Clark
Affiliation: PhD student, TedLab and Computational Psycholinguistics Lab, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, MIT
Talk title: Quantifying correlations between linguistic surprisal, prosody, and backchannels in naturalistic conversation
Abstract: Research indicates that more predictable (i.e. less surprising) words are generally reduced in duration. The relationship between surprisal and other prosodic features, as well as listener backchannels (short interjections such as “yeah” or “mhm” that are common in conversation) remains understudied. Using large language models to compute word surprisal, we investigate a new large corpus of naturalistic conversations (CANDOR). We find that surprisal robustly predicts duration, pitch, and intensity even when controlling for possible confounds, and is negatively correlated with backchannels. These preliminary results indicate a sensitivity of both speaker and listener behavior to the information content of words in everyday conversation.

SCSB Colloquium Series: The Intact Mind and Why It Matters [Amy Lutz, Ph.D.]
2024-03-06 16:00 - 17:00 UTC | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium) + Zoom Webinar: https://mit.zoom.us/j/91052434159
Speaker: Amy S.F. Lutz, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Senior Lecturer, History and Sociology of Science Department, University of Pennsylvania; Vice-President, National Council on Severe Autism
Host: Dr. Mriganka Sur
Talk title: The Intact Mind and Why It Matters
Abstract: In her 2006 memoir Strange Son, Cure Autism Now co-founder Portia Iversen described the “intact mind” she believed was buried within even the most cognitively impaired autistic individuals, like her son Dov. But the sentiment itself was not new. Emerging largely out of psychoanalytic theory dating back to the mid 20th century, the intact mind was amplified in parent memoirs even as biomedical discourse consolidated in the 1970s around a very different depiction of autism: as a biologically based, intractable neurodevelopmental disorder. With as many as 1 out of every 36 American children now affected, according to the CDC, discourse originally unique to autism has come to inform current debates at the heart of intellectual and developmental disability practice and policy in the United States – including ongoing battles over 14(c) subminimum wage programs, guardianship, and facilitated communication.

SCSB Lunch Series: Human Paraneoplastic antigen Ma2 (PNMA2) forms icosahedral capsids that can be engineered for mRNA delivery
2024-02-23 12:00 - 13:00 UTC | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, February 23, 2024
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom Meeting (https://mit.zoom.us/j/93707327771)
Speaker: Yugang Zhang, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Simons Fellow, Feng Zhang Laboratory, McGovern Institute for Brain Research, MIT
Talk title: Human Paraneoplastic antigen Ma2 (PNMA2) forms icosahedral capsids that can be engineered for mRNA delivery
Abstract: To build a protein-based delivery vehicle, we systematically investigate human PNMA proteins and find that a number of PNMAs are secreted by human cells and form capsid in vitro. We determine that PNMA2 forms icosahedral capsids efficiently but does not naturally encapsidate nucleic acids. We resolve the cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM) structure of PNMA2 and leverage the structure to design engineered PNMA2 (ePNMA2) particles with RNA packaging abilities. Recombinantly purified ePNMA2 proteins package mRNA molecules into icosahedral capsids and can function as delivery vehicles in mammalian cell lines, demonstrating the potential for engineered endogenous capsids as a nucleic acid therapy delivery modality.

SCSB Colloquium Series: Frequency Modules of Social Reward in the Brain
2024-02-07 16:00 - 17:00 UTC | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, February 7, 2024
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium) + Zoom Webinar (https://mit.zoom.us/j/97035996656)
Speaker: Steve Chang, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Associate Professor of Psychology and of Neuroscience, Department of Psychology, Department of Neuroscience, Wu Tsai Institute, Kavli Institute for Neuroscience, Yale University
Host: Dr. Mehrdad Jazayeri
Talk title: Frequency Modules of Social Reward in the Brain
Abstract: Social interaction is essential to our daily lives, shaping interpersonal communication and the decisions we make. The first part of the presentation will describe our recent findings from studying the medial prefrontal-amygdala circuits when macaques make prosocial and antisocial decisions impacting the reward outcome of a partner. We found directionally selective ‘frequency modules’ that convey social decision variables (e.g., prosocial versus antisocial preference, vicarious versus experienced reward). These results support the importance of network-level modules in the social brain that are governed by frequency and direction selective information transfer. The second part of the presentation will describe a novel automated cooperation paradigm in freely moving marmosets that combines markerless behavioral tracking and a dynamic Bayesian network modeling of behavioral dependencies. Cooperation in this paradigm was guided by the strategic use of social information and was critically dependent on social relationships. Overall, this presentation emphasizes the importance of interareal interactions in the social brain and introduces a robust naturalistic cooperation paradigm suitable for neural investigation.

SCSB Lunch Series: Probing the cortical circuits that prevent sensory overload
2023-12-15 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Simons Center Conference Room, Bldg. 46, Room 6011, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, December 15, 2023
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Simons Center Conference room 46-6011 + Zoom Meeting (https://mit.zoom.us/j/96426558759)
Speaker: Alex Major, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Past Simons Fellow, Earl Miller Laboratory, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, MIT
Talk title: Probing the cortical circuits that prevent sensory overload
Abstract: Sensory overload in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) may result from disrupted filtering of predicted sensory inputs. Our Predictive Coding model of brain function suggests sensory information is carried by gamma rhythms in the upper layers of the cortex. In contrast, alpha/beta rhythms are in deep layers and may suppress gamma rhythms of predicted sensory input. We hypothesize feedback prediction signals in ASD are deficient, manifesting as reduced alpha/beta rhythms. This causes less suppression of incoming sensory input and gamma, leading to sensory overload. We have developed a technique to simulate sensory overload in rhesus monkeys by suppressing deep layers of prefrontal cortex. This is hypothesized to decrease feedback alpha/beta activity and thus disinhibit gamma activity and sensory input. This will directly test a mechanism of sensory overload, perhaps leading research towards improved symptom management.

SCSB Colloquium Series: The neurobiology of social isolation
2023-12-06 16:00 - 17:00 UTC | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, December 6, 2023
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium) and YouTube Stream (https://youtube.com/live/89g148lSIco)
Speaker: Moriel Zelikowsky, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Neurobiology, University of Utah
Host: Dr. Steve Flavell
Talk title: The neurobiology of social isolation
Abstract: We are social animals. Extended deprivation of social contact can produce deleterious effects on the brain and behavior. Our group works to identify the neural circuit mechanisms which give rise to the internal brain state produced by prolonged social isolation and its impact on survival-related social behaviors. I will present some of our recent work examining the effects of social isolation on mouse courtship behavior and vocal communication using in-depth behavioral and acoustic analyses, machine vision, genetically-targeted cellular perturbations, and in vivo imaging in mice. Collectively, our findings reveal a dramatic disruption of mouse courtship behavior and social communication after isolation, and identify a unique neural signature in the coding of this brain state.

SCSB Lunch Series: A network of brain areas is sensitive to prosody and distinct from language and auditory areas
2023-11-17 12:00 - 13:00 (America/New_York) | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Friday, November 17, 2023
Time: 12:00pm – 1:00pm
Location: Singleton Auditorium 46-3002 + Zoom Meeting (https://mit.zoom.us/j/93332201270)
Speaker: Tamar Regev, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Postdoctoral Associate, Ev Fedorenko Laboratory, MIT; Fellow of the Poitras Center for Psychiatric Research
Talk title: A network of brain areas is sensitive to prosody and distinct from language and auditory areas
Abstract: Prosody refers to auditory features of speech beyond phonetics, like pitch and tempo, which convey linguistic, emotional, and other socially-relevant information. Does the brain contain specialized areas for processing prosody or is prosodic information processed by known auditory or language areas? Using fMRI, we identified temporal and frontal brain areas which were strongly sensitive to prosody with or without linguistic content. These prosody-sensitive areas were adjacent to but distinct from language areas which extract meaning from linguistic input, and from auditory areas that support pitch perception and speech perception. Interestingly, these areas showed some response to communicative signals, especially facial expressions and non-speech vocalizations. These results suggest that prosody is processed by a network of brain areas that lie in close proximity to language-selective areas and are broadly sensitive to non-linguistic communicative cues. This work lays a critical foundation for further investigations of the neural basis of prosodic processing and its disorders.
Bio: Dr. Tamar Regev is a Postdoctoral Associate at BCS, MIT, working with Prof. Ev Fedorenko, and is a fellow of the Poitras Center for Psychiatric Research. She earned her Ph.D. in Computational Neuroscience from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, where she was advised by Prof. Leon Y. Deouell and Prof. Israel (Eli) Nelken, and conducted research on representations of auditory frequency using EEG and computational modeling. She holds a M.Sc in Cognitive Systems from UPF, Barcelona, and a B.Sc in Physics and Biology from Tel-Aviv University.

SCSB Colloquium Series: Modeling brain overgrowth in autism using human pluripotent stem cells
2023-11-08 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Date: Wednesday, November 8, 2023
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium) and YouTube Stream (https://youtube.com/live/4vzPAvJGbfo)
Speaker: Sundari Chetty, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Center for Regenerative Medicine, MGH; Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School; Principle Faculty Member, Harvard Stem Cell Institute
Host: Dr. Dara Manoach
Talk title: Modeling brain overgrowth in autism using human pluripotent stem cells
Bio & Abstract: Dr. Sundari Chetty is an assistant professor at the Center for Regenerative Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and the department of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School. She also serves as a Principal Faculty member of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute. Dr. Chetty received her PhD in neuroscience and B.A. in molecular and cellular biology from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Chetty started her lab at Stanford University after completing her postdoctoral work in Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University in Douglas Melton’s laboratory. In June of 2022, she relocated her laboratory to MGH.
The overarching goal of Dr. Chetty’s lab is to understand the mechanisms underlying neurodevelopmental and psychiatric disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia, and identify novel therapeutic targets based on these mechanistic insights. In particular, her lab has been investigating the mechanisms underlying brain overgrowth or undergrowth in these disorders using human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) technology. Using human iPSCs from idiopathic patients as well as those with known genetic variations, the Chetty lab uses two-dimensional and brain organoid models to investigate changes at the cellular, functional, and mechanistic levels using a broad range of techniques from RNA sequencing, genome editing, to functional assays in in vitro and in vivo models. This talk will highlight recent work in the Chetty lab investigating how interactions between the neuroimmune system regulate brain overgrowth in autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

SCSB Colloquium Series: Individual variation in neuroanatomy within autism
2023-10-25 16:00 - 17:00 (America/New_York) | Singleton Auditorium, Bldg. 46, Room 3002, 43 Vassar Street, Cambridge, MA, 02139, United States
Portrait of Assistant Professor Stefano Anzellotti (Psychology) photographed in a classroom and outside of McGuinn for Kalscheur SJ web slide show and a future issue of Welcome Additions in Chronicle.
Date: Wednesday, October 25, 2023
Location: 46-3002 (Singleton Auditorium) and YouTube Stream (https://youtube.com/live/lF-TI7anPZs)
Speaker: Stefano Anzellotti, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Boston College
Host: Dr. Rebecca Saxe
Talk title: Individual variation in neuroanatomy within autism
Abstract: Autism spectrum disorder is very heterogeneous. Diagnosed individuals vary in terms of genetics, neural measures, and behavior. Heterogeneity has two important implications for autism research. First, it makes it more difficult to identify findings that replicate, hindering the progress of research. Second, different individuals are likely to need different, personalized interventions. Therefore, understanding individual variation within autism is a key research objective. A major obstacle to this objective is the fact that individual variation related to autism is mixed with unrelated variation, which also occurs in the general population. We find that a recently developed deep learning method — Contrastive Variational Autoencoders — makes it possible to disentangle autism-related individual variation in brain anatomy from variation that is shared with the general population. In turn, this process reveals previously hidden relationships between individual differences in brain anatomy and individual differences in behavioral symptoms. Finally, we use counterfactual AI to identify interpretable anatomical sites of individual variation within autism, associating differences in behavioral symptoms with changes at specific anatomical loci. This approach can also be applied to other data modalities and other disorders, offering a technique to study individual variation specific to a particular population of participants.
