This spring, to celebrate 25 years of discovery, the McGovern Institute is hosting a half-day symposium. The event will showcase the institute’s major achievements and explore the future direction of neuroscience. Highlights include a talk by Robert Langer and lightning talks from six distinguished McGovern alumni.

The event is free and open to the public, but registration is required.

Register: https://mcgovern.science/symposium2025

Symposium Schedule

1:00 pm - WELCOMING REMARKS
Robert Desimone - Director, McGovern Institute, Doris and Don Berkey Professor of Neuroscience

1:15 pm - ANNIVERSARY REFLECTIONS
Lore Harp McGovern - Co-Founder, McGovern Institute
Phillip A. Sharp - Founding Director, McGovern Institute; Institute Professor emeritus, MIT; Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, MIT

1:30 pm - ROBERT LANGER, Institute Professor, MIT; Board Member, McGovern Institute, MIT
“An Engineering Road Not Taken: From Research to Clinical Translation”

1:50 pm - ANNIVERSARY VIDEO
“McGovern at 25” – produced by Glass Ink Media, Julie Pryor

2:00 pm - ROBERT DESIMONE, Director, McGovern Institute, Doris and Don Berkey Professor of Neuroscience
“Neuroscience Reimagined: What’s Next for the McGovern Institute”

2:30 pm - ALUMNI PRESENTATIONS
Introductions by Evelina Fedorenko, McGovern Institute

- XIAN GAO (FENG LAB), Emugen Therapeutics LLC
“Gene therapy-based circuit modulation for brain disorders”

- MARK HOWE (GRAYBIEL LAB), Boston University
“Probing Neuromodulator Signals for Learning and Action”

- DMITRIY ARONOV (FEE LAB), Columbia University, HHMI
“Using food-caching chickadees to study memory in the brain”

3:15 pm - BREAK

3:30 pm - ALUMNI PRESENTATIONS (CONT.)

- JAKOB VOIGTS (HARNETT LAB), HHMI Janelia Research Campus
“Neural dynamics underlying sequential reasoning in naturalistic behavior”

- ANYA IVANOVA (FEDORENKO LAB), Georgia Tech
“Dissociating language and thought in humans and in machines”
- JENELLE FEATHER (McDERMOTT LAB), Flatiron Institute
“Designing visual stimuli to test models of perception”

4:15 pm - ALUMNI PANEL
Moderated by Stephan Kim, Fiete Lab

5:15 pm - CLOSING REMARKS
Nergis Mavalvala - Dean, School of Science, MIT

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION IN ATRIUM