The McGovern Institute of MIT shapes brain science and improves human lives on a global scale | News put

In 2000, Patrick J. McGovern '59 and Lore Harp McGovern Make an extraordinary gift To establish the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at the MIT, motivated by their deep curiosity for the human mind and their belief in the power of science to change life. Their commitment of $ 350 million began with a simple but daring vision: understanding the human brain in all its complexity and taking advantage of this understanding for the improvement of humanity.
Twenty-five years later, the McGovern Institute testifies to the power of interdisciplinary collaboration, continuing to shape our understanding of the brain and to improve the quality of life of people in the world.

“In any case, it is a really historic moment for the MIT,” said the 15th president of MIT, Charles M. Vest, during his opening remarks during an event in 2000 to celebrate the McGovern gift agreement. “The creation of the McGovern Institute will launch one of the deepest and most important scientific companies of this century in what will surely be a cornerstone of scientific contributions from the MIT of decades to come.”
Vest Phillip A. SharpProfessor Emeritus of Biology and winner of the Nobel Prize, to direct the Institute and appointed six MIT teachers – Bizzi Emilio,, Martha Constantin-Paton,, Ann Graybiel Phd '71,, H. Robert Horvitz '68,, Nancy Kanwisher '80, Phd '86And Tomaso Poggio – to represent its founding faculty. Construction began in 2003 on building 46, a research complex of 376,000 square feet at the northeast tip of the campus. The new “North Passerelle” of the MIT would ultimately house the McGovern Institute, the Picower Institute for Learning and MemoryAnd Brain MIT department and cognitive sciences.

Robert DesimoneThe teacher of neuroscience of Doris and Don Berkey at MIT, succeeded as director of the McGovern Institute in 2005, and brought together a distinguished list of 22 members of the faculty, including a Nobel winner, a winner of the revolutionary prize, two national science / technology scholarships, and 15 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
A quarter of a century of innovation

On April 11, 2025, the McGovern Institute celebrated its 25th anniversary with a half-day symposium with presentations by the teacher of the MIT Institute Robert LangerFormer speakers of various McGovern, and Desimone laboratories, who are in 20th year as director of the Institute.

Desimone underlined the recent discoveries of the Institute, including the development of the genome Crispr's publishing system, which led to the first gene therapy in the approved world – a remarkable achievement that useless a new era of transformative medicine. In other milestones, McGovern researchers have developed the first prosthetic member entirely controlled by the nervous system of the body; a flexible probe that draws from the communication of the intestinal brain; an extension microscopy technique that opens the way to biology laboratories around the world to perform nanometric imaging; And the advanced calculation models that demonstrate how we see, hear, use the language and even think of what others think. The work of the McGovern Institute was also the work of neuroimaging, discovering the architecture of human thought and establishing markers who signal the early emergence of a mental illness, even before the symptoms appear.

Synergy and open science
“I am often asked what makes us different from other institutes and programs of neuroscience around the world,” explains Desimone. “My answer is simple. At the McGovern Institute, everything is greater than the sum of its parts. ”
Many discoveries at the McGovern Institute have dependent on collaborations in several laboratories, ranging from biological engineering to human brain imaging and artificial intelligence. In modern brain research, significant progress often requires joint expertise of people working in neurophysiology, behavior, computer analysis, neuroanatomy and molecular biology. More than a dozen different departments of MIT are represented by the teachers and students graduated from McGovern, and this synergy led to much greater ideas and innovations than any unique discipline could achieve alone.
The spirit of McGovern is also a spirit of open science, where newly developed technologies are shared with colleagues from around the world. Thanks to hospital partnerships, for example, McGovern researchers test their tools and therapeutic interventions in clinical areas, accelerating their discoveries in real solutions.

McGovern inheritance

Hundreds of scientific articles have emerged from McGovern laboratories in the past 25 years, but most teachers would say that it is people – young researchers – who really define the McGovern Institute. Awarded teachers often attract young brightest minds, but many McGovern teachers also serve as mentors, creating a diversified and dynamic scientific community that establishes the global standard for brain research and its applications. Kanwisher, for example, guided more than 70 doctoral students and post-doctoral students who have become leading scientists in the world. Three of his former students, Evelina Fedorenko Phd '07,, Josh McDermott Phd '06And Rebecca Saxe Phd '03The John W. Jarve (1978) professor of brain and cognitive sciences, are now its colleagues from the McGovern Institute. Other McGovern alumni have shared stories of mentorship, science and real world impact during the 25th anniversary symposium.

Looking towards the future, the McGovern community is more committed than ever to unravel the mysteries of the brain and make a significant difference in the life of individuals on a global scale.
“By promoting team science, open communication and interdisciplinary partnerships,” explains Harp McGovern, co-founder of the Institute, “our culture shows how individual expertise can be amplified by collective effort. I am honored to be the co -founder of this incredible establishment – up to the next 25 years! ”