Skip to main content
MIT Corporate Relations
MIT Corporate Relations
Search
×
Read
Watch
Attend
About
Connect
MIT Startup Exchange
Search
Sign-In
Register
Search
×
MIT ILP Home
Read
Faculty Features
Research
News
Watch
Attend
Conferences
Webinars
Learning Opportunities
About
Membership
Staff
For Faculty
Connect
Faculty/Researchers
Program Directors
MIT Startup Exchange
User Menu and Search
Search
Sign-In
Register
MIT ILP Home
Toggle menu
Search
Sign-in
Register
Read
Faculty Features
Research
News
Watch
Attend
Conferences
Webinars
Learning Opportunities
About
Membership
Staff
For Faculty
Connect
Faculty/Researchers
Program Directors
MIT Startup Exchange
Back to Faculty/Researchers
Prof. Morgan Hwa-Tze Sheng
Professor of Neuroscience
Core Member, Broad Institute
Co-Director, Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research
Affiliate Member, Picower Institute for Learning and Memory
Affiliate Member, McGovern Institute for Brain Research
Primary DLC
Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
MIT Room:
NE30-75A-9023
(617) 714-7880
msheng@mit.edu
https://picower.mit.edu/morgan-sheng
Assistant
Sonya Best
sbest@broadinstitute.org
Areas of Interest and Expertise
Synaptic Plasticity
Neurodegeneration
Therapeutics
Psychiatric Disorders
Research Summary
Morgan Sheng focuses on the structure, function, and turnover of synapses, the junctions that allow communication between brain cells. His discoveries have improved our understanding of the molecular basis of cognitive function and diseases of the nervous system, such as autism, Alzheimer’s disease, and dementia. Being both a physician and a scientist, he incorporates genetic as well as biological insights to aid the study and treatment of mental illnesses and neurodegenerative diseases. He rejoins the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences (BCS), returning as a professor of neuroscience, a position he also held from 2001 to 2008. At that time, he was a member of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory, a joint appointee in the Department of Biology, and an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Sheng earned his PhD from Harvard University in 1990, completed a postdoc at the University of California at San Francisco in 1994, and finished his medical training with a residency in London in 1986. From 1994 to 2001, he researched molecular and cellular neuroscience at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. From 2008 to 2019 he was vice president of neuroscience at Genentech, a leading biotech company. In addition to his faculty appointment in BCS, Sheng is core institute member and co-director of the Stanley Center for Psychiatric Research at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, as well as an affiliate member of the McGovern Institute and the Picower Institute.
Recent Work
Related Faculty
Prof. Kay M Tye
Associate Professor of Neuroscience
Prof. Feng Zhang
James and Patricia Poitras (1963) Professor in Neuroscience
Prof. Martha Constantine-Paton
Professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and Biology, Emeritus