Leadership Transition at Picower Institute
Professor Li-Huei Tsai will step down as director of The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at the end of the academic year in May. She has led the institute since 2009.
Her decision allows her to focus on her academic work, including her continued leadership of MIT's Aging Brain Initiative and the Alana Down Syndrome Center.
A search committee, led by Sherman Fairchild Professor Matthew Wilson, has been appointed to find the next director.
Institute Growth Under Tsai
During her 16-year tenure, Professor Tsai oversaw significant expansion at the Picower Institute. The faculty grew considerably, with eight of the current 16 labs joining under her directorship.
The institute expanded from 11 labs and approximately 200 members in 2009 to its current size of about 400 scientists, students, and staff across 16 labs.
Key initiatives during her leadership include:
- Developing strategic programs with foundations to support junior faculty.
- Catalyzing applications for private grant funding.
- Sustaining fellowships for over 18 postdocs and graduate students.
- Expanding the scope of the Picower Institute Innovation Fund.
- Launching campus-wide initiatives such as The Aging Brain Initiative (2015) and the Alana Down Syndrome Center (2019).
Research Contributions
Professor Tsai's research has significantly contributed to understanding Alzheimer's disease.
Her work spans molecular, cellular, circuit, and network scales in the brain, leading to numerous discoveries and the translation of insights into therapeutic strategies, one of which is now in a national phase III clinical trial.
Notable aspects of her research include:
- Identifying key roles for the enzyme CDK5 in neurodegeneration.
- Pioneering understanding of how epigenetic changes affect Alzheimer's pathology and memory.
- Highlighting the critical role of DNA double-strand breaks in disease.
- Using human stem-cell-based cultures to study the APOE4 gene variant's contribution to Alzheimer's.
- Collaborating on atlases documenting gene expression and epigenetic differences in Alzheimer's disease.
- Co-leading the discovery of Gamma Entrainment Using Sensory Stimuli (GENUS), a noninvasive, device-based treatment for Alzheimer's, which has advanced to a pivotal clinical trial via an MIT spinoff company.
Professor Tsai has published over 230 peer-reviewed neuroscience studies, holds numerous patents, and has helped launch several startups. She is a fellow of the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors, and has received multiple awards for her contributions to science.