Thursday, June 21, 1:20 pm - 2:10 pm in Ballrooms A and B

Plenary Talk 1: Ed Boyden, Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Introduction by Professor Megan Peters

Ed Boyden is Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at MIT, and an associate professor of Biological Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences, at MIT's Media Lab and McGovern Institute for Brain Research. He leads the Synthetic Neurobiology Group, which develops tools for analyzing and repairing complex biological systems such as the brain, and applies them systematically to reveal ground truth principles of biological function as well as to repair these systems. Amongst other recognitions, he has received the Canada Gairdner International Award (2018), the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2016), the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2015), the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences (2015), the Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award (2013), the Grete Lundbeck Brain Prize (2013), the NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2013), the NIH Director's Transformative Research Award (three times, 2012, 2013, and 2017), and the Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize (2011), and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (2017).  Ed received his Ph.D. in neurosciences from Stanford University as a Hertz Fellow, where he discovered that the molecular mechanisms used to store a memory are determined by the content to be learned. He has contributed to over 100 peer-reviewed papers and 170 granted patents, and given over 400 invited talks on his group's work.