Picower Institute for Learning and Memory

The Picower Institute for Learning and Memory is, along with the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, one of the three neuroscience groups at MIT. The institute is focused on studying all aspects of learning and memory; specifically, it has received over $50 million to study Alzheimer's, schizophrenia and similar diseases. When it was established in 1994, the institute was primarily funded by the Sherman Fairchild Foundation, the RIKEN Brain Science Institute and the National Institute of Mental Health. It was renamed after a massive grant by the Picower Foundation in 2002.

Current director of institute is Professor Mark F. Bear. The institute was run by Nobel Prize laureate Susumu Tonegawa until he resigned on December 31, 2006, motivated by his belief that "a new generation of leadership is needed", although many people believe that his resignation is related to his controversial email exchanges with a job candidate at the McGovern Institute.