Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Picower Foundation funds namesake center at MIT with $4M more for brain studies

By Mass High Tech

MIT's Picower Institute for Learning and Memory has landed a $4 million gift from the Picower Foundation.

The funding will be used to launch the Picower Institute Innovation Fund, which will support Picower Institute faculty members for innovative or high-risk neuroscience research, the school said. The money will also be used to enable neuroscientists to study the use of viruses to deliver genes to neurons.

Research projects funded by the gift include restoring and disrupting memories by flashing brain cells with lasers, mimicking schizophrenia symptoms in animals and dissecting the genetic basis for language learning, according to the school.

In 2002, the Picower Foundation gave $50 million to MIT to launch the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, which studies schizophrenia, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's and other brain disorders.

The Picower Foundation was founded in 1989. The Florida-based organization seeks to promote medical research, education and the protection of human rights in the United States.