Yang Tan Collective
@yangtancollective.bsky.social
The Yang Tan Collective accelerates collaboration in basic science, research, and engineering to realize translative strategies and technologies that achieve a healthy mind in a healthy body and improve human wellbeing at a global scale. yangtan.mit.edu
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: Did you guess Day 4’s gift? I won’t leave you hanging, its…
4 distinct neural pathways interact with the brain’s striatum region in order to finely tune dopamine levels to motivate or inhibit action.
📚⬇️ Link to read it below
4 distinct neural pathways interact with the brain’s striatum region in order to finely tune dopamine levels to motivate or inhibit action.
📚⬇️ Link to read it below
December 18, 2025 at 7:10 PM
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: Did you guess Day 4’s gift? I won’t leave you hanging, its…
4 distinct neural pathways interact with the brain’s striatum region in order to finely tune dopamine levels to motivate or inhibit action.
📚⬇️ Link to read it below
4 distinct neural pathways interact with the brain’s striatum region in order to finely tune dopamine levels to motivate or inhibit action.
📚⬇️ Link to read it below
What if aging didn’t have to mean a weaker immune system? 🧬🛡️ Feng Zhang & researchers in the Yang Brain-Body Center have found a way to reawaken immune strength.
🔗 Read the article about the study: yangtan.mit.edu/new-study-su...
🔗 Read the article about the study: yangtan.mit.edu/new-study-su...
December 17, 2025 at 4:36 PM
What if aging didn’t have to mean a weaker immune system? 🧬🛡️ Feng Zhang & researchers in the Yang Brain-Body Center have found a way to reawaken immune strength.
🔗 Read the article about the study: yangtan.mit.edu/new-study-su...
🔗 Read the article about the study: yangtan.mit.edu/new-study-su...
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: Today’s gift comes from the GEAR Center! ☀️💧
5 times per second: the Yang GEAR Center’s solar-powered desalination platform senses and responds to changing sunlight as often as 300 times per minute, maximizing efficiency in real time.
⬇️ article linked below!
5 times per second: the Yang GEAR Center’s solar-powered desalination platform senses and responds to changing sunlight as often as 300 times per minute, maximizing efficiency in real time.
⬇️ article linked below!
December 16, 2025 at 8:28 PM
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: Today’s gift comes from the GEAR Center! ☀️💧
5 times per second: the Yang GEAR Center’s solar-powered desalination platform senses and responds to changing sunlight as often as 300 times per minute, maximizing efficiency in real time.
⬇️ article linked below!
5 times per second: the Yang GEAR Center’s solar-powered desalination platform senses and responds to changing sunlight as often as 300 times per minute, maximizing efficiency in real time.
⬇️ article linked below!
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: For Day 6, we have...
6 distinct functions are integrated in a single hair-thin fiber developed by Polina Anikeeva’s group! Read what the functions are in the graphics ⬇️
6 distinct functions are integrated in a single hair-thin fiber developed by Polina Anikeeva’s group! Read what the functions are in the graphics ⬇️
December 15, 2025 at 6:33 PM
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: For Day 6, we have...
6 distinct functions are integrated in a single hair-thin fiber developed by Polina Anikeeva’s group! Read what the functions are in the graphics ⬇️
6 distinct functions are integrated in a single hair-thin fiber developed by Polina Anikeeva’s group! Read what the functions are in the graphics ⬇️
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: we posted about this one recently! Gift #7 is…
7 tasks, from simple arithmetic to complex grid-transformation problems, required the same amount of thinking by both humans and a computational model to reach a solution!
⬇️ article below
7 tasks, from simple arithmetic to complex grid-transformation problems, required the same amount of thinking by both humans and a computational model to reach a solution!
⬇️ article below
December 12, 2025 at 5:41 PM
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: we posted about this one recently! Gift #7 is…
7 tasks, from simple arithmetic to complex grid-transformation problems, required the same amount of thinking by both humans and a computational model to reach a solution!
⬇️ article below
7 tasks, from simple arithmetic to complex grid-transformation problems, required the same amount of thinking by both humans and a computational model to reach a solution!
⬇️ article below
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: what does the Yang Tan Collective boast eight of? Gift #8 is—of course—the EIGHT centers!! 🧑🔬🧠
Can you name all eight?
Can you name all eight?
December 11, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: what does the Yang Tan Collective boast eight of? Gift #8 is—of course—the EIGHT centers!! 🧑🔬🧠
Can you name all eight?
Can you name all eight?
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: Gift #9 🧬🧰
9 tiny units of genetic code make up each part of the TIGR guide RNA. These TIGR systems, discovered by Feng Zhang’s lab, are biological tools that can be reprogrammed to target any DNA sequence of interest, expanding the genome-editing toolbox!
9 tiny units of genetic code make up each part of the TIGR guide RNA. These TIGR systems, discovered by Feng Zhang’s lab, are biological tools that can be reprogrammed to target any DNA sequence of interest, expanding the genome-editing toolbox!
December 9, 2025 at 6:41 PM
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: Gift #9 🧬🧰
9 tiny units of genetic code make up each part of the TIGR guide RNA. These TIGR systems, discovered by Feng Zhang’s lab, are biological tools that can be reprogrammed to target any DNA sequence of interest, expanding the genome-editing toolbox!
9 tiny units of genetic code make up each part of the TIGR guide RNA. These TIGR systems, discovered by Feng Zhang’s lab, are biological tools that can be reprogrammed to target any DNA sequence of interest, expanding the genome-editing toolbox!
(1/2) Yang ICoN Center's @evfedorenko.bsky.social spoke with @quantamagazine.bsky.social about her research, which shows how our brains parse language with LLM-like efficiency!
December 8, 2025 at 4:11 PM
(1/2) Yang ICoN Center's @evfedorenko.bsky.social spoke with @quantamagazine.bsky.social about her research, which shows how our brains parse language with LLM-like efficiency!
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: what will Gift #10 have in store for us today?
That’s right! It’s 10 future clinicians who are advancing through the Yang Center for Bionics training program! 🥼🦿 The featured picture shows a few trainees receiving their white coats 👏
That’s right! It’s 10 future clinicians who are advancing through the Yang Center for Bionics training program! 🥼🦿 The featured picture shows a few trainees receiving their white coats 👏
December 6, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: what will Gift #10 have in store for us today?
That’s right! It’s 10 future clinicians who are advancing through the Yang Center for Bionics training program! 🥼🦿 The featured picture shows a few trainees receiving their white coats 👏
That’s right! It’s 10 future clinicians who are advancing through the Yang Center for Bionics training program! 🥼🦿 The featured picture shows a few trainees receiving their white coats 👏
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: did you guess Gift #11? It’s…
11 ICoN Center Postdoctoral Fellows who are tomorrow’s leaders in computational neuroscience! 🧠Learn more about these iconic ICoN fellows at yangtan.mit.edu/icon/icon-center-researchers/
🎁 Any guesses for Gift #10?
11 ICoN Center Postdoctoral Fellows who are tomorrow’s leaders in computational neuroscience! 🧠Learn more about these iconic ICoN fellows at yangtan.mit.edu/icon/icon-center-researchers/
🎁 Any guesses for Gift #10?
December 5, 2025 at 8:24 PM
Twelve Days of Yang Tan Collective: did you guess Gift #11? It’s…
11 ICoN Center Postdoctoral Fellows who are tomorrow’s leaders in computational neuroscience! 🧠Learn more about these iconic ICoN fellows at yangtan.mit.edu/icon/icon-center-researchers/
🎁 Any guesses for Gift #10?
11 ICoN Center Postdoctoral Fellows who are tomorrow’s leaders in computational neuroscience! 🧠Learn more about these iconic ICoN fellows at yangtan.mit.edu/icon/icon-center-researchers/
🎁 Any guesses for Gift #10?
Happy December☃️✨! Join us as we celebrate the Collective’s amazing people, centers, & research! (I know the song starts off with 1 gift, but it’s ok if we start off with 12, right?)
🎁#12, we have: 12 @harvardmed.bsky.social faculty members!
Can you guess what Gift #11 might be?
🎁#12, we have: 12 @harvardmed.bsky.social faculty members!
Can you guess what Gift #11 might be?
December 4, 2025 at 6:54 PM
Happy December☃️✨! Join us as we celebrate the Collective’s amazing people, centers, & research! (I know the song starts off with 1 gift, but it’s ok if we start off with 12, right?)
🎁#12, we have: 12 @harvardmed.bsky.social faculty members!
Can you guess what Gift #11 might be?
🎁#12, we have: 12 @harvardmed.bsky.social faculty members!
Can you guess what Gift #11 might be?
Yang ICoN researchers are revealing the shared rules of balance across species. 🧠🚶♀️🐭🪰 Humans, mice, and flies all use the same error-correction strategy to stay upright, thanks to new work led by ICoN Center’s @nidhise.bsky.social & ICoN Fellow @antoinecomite.bsky.social.
Staying stable
Scientists at MIT’s McGovern Institute have determined that animals with very different bodies likely use a shared strategy to balance themselves when they walk.
news.mit.edu
December 4, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Yang ICoN researchers are revealing the shared rules of balance across species. 🧠🚶♀️🐭🪰 Humans, mice, and flies all use the same error-correction strategy to stay upright, thanks to new work led by ICoN Center’s @nidhise.bsky.social & ICoN Fellow @antoinecomite.bsky.social.
On International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we honor the many ways people move throughout the world and celebrate human potential in all its forms. View this short video to see the incredible research the Yang Center for Bionics is doing & how they celebrate every body!
December 3, 2025 at 4:58 PM
On International Day of Persons with Disabilities, we honor the many ways people move throughout the world and celebrate human potential in all its forms. View this short video to see the incredible research the Yang Center for Bionics is doing & how they celebrate every body!
(1/3) Check out this short Q & A about the K. Lisa Yang Post-Baccalaureate program, especially if you or someone you know is a recent college grad who needs more experience before applying to PhD programs.
December 2, 2025 at 6:58 PM
(1/3) Check out this short Q & A about the K. Lisa Yang Post-Baccalaureate program, especially if you or someone you know is a recent college grad who needs more experience before applying to PhD programs.
(1/3) For the past few months, we've highlighted conversations Yang Tan Collective fellows and faculty have taken part in & we’ve collected all the podcasts and videos in one neat post in case you need something inspirational to listen to during the holidays (or whenever!)
November 26, 2025 at 4:29 PM
(1/3) For the past few months, we've highlighted conversations Yang Tan Collective fellows and faculty have taken part in & we’ve collected all the podcasts and videos in one neat post in case you need something inspirational to listen to during the holidays (or whenever!)
Listen to the discussion between Hugh Herr & Bloomberg Businessweek Daily hosts as they discuss the future of bionic limbs and more on Bloomberg Podcasts!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5_2...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5_2...
Inside the MIT Lab Building The Future of Bionic Limbs
YouTube video by Bloomberg Podcasts
www.youtube.com
November 24, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Listen to the discussion between Hugh Herr & Bloomberg Businessweek Daily hosts as they discuss the future of bionic limbs and more on Bloomberg Podcasts!
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5_2...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5_2...
(1/2) ICoN Fellow Andrea de Varda @andreadevarda.bsky.social and Ev Fedorenko @evfedorenko.bsky.social have revealed that AI reasoning models & humans struggle with the same tough problems—and take longer on them in parallel ways.
Article 🔗 news.mit.edu/2025/cost-of...
Article 🔗 news.mit.edu/2025/cost-of...
The cost of thinking
MIT McGovern Institute researchers find a surprising parallel in the ways humans and new AI models solve complex problems.
news.mit.edu
November 21, 2025 at 4:55 PM
(1/2) ICoN Fellow Andrea de Varda @andreadevarda.bsky.social and Ev Fedorenko @evfedorenko.bsky.social have revealed that AI reasoning models & humans struggle with the same tough problems—and take longer on them in parallel ways.
Article 🔗 news.mit.edu/2025/cost-of...
Article 🔗 news.mit.edu/2025/cost-of...
A new cross-species atlas created by Yang Tan researchers reveals how astrocytes—star-shaped cells and the brain’s most abundant non-neuronal cells—change across space and time. This resource gives scientists an essential lens for probing brain development, function, and disease.
November 20, 2025 at 4:41 PM
A new cross-species atlas created by Yang Tan researchers reveals how astrocytes—star-shaped cells and the brain’s most abundant non-neuronal cells—change across space and time. This resource gives scientists an essential lens for probing brain development, function, and disease.
(1/3) Read about Jinyoung Kang and Margaret Schroeder (@meschro.bsky.social)'s collaboration in developing a new imaging technique that can provide scientists across many fields with “clearer pictures of biological machinery”, originally featured in the Summer 2025 Newsletter.
November 18, 2025 at 4:45 PM
(1/3) Read about Jinyoung Kang and Margaret Schroeder (@meschro.bsky.social)'s collaboration in developing a new imaging technique that can provide scientists across many fields with “clearer pictures of biological machinery”, originally featured in the Summer 2025 Newsletter.
(1/3) Kyla Nichols, in her Yang Tan Collective Summer 2025 Newsletter feature, gives us an overview of her research on the gut-brain connection and what she wants to uncover about “why there might be strong sex-based differences in mental health disorders,”
November 12, 2025 at 5:37 PM
(1/3) Kyla Nichols, in her Yang Tan Collective Summer 2025 Newsletter feature, gives us an overview of her research on the gut-brain connection and what she wants to uncover about “why there might be strong sex-based differences in mental health disorders,”
Congratulations to Collective alumni and gene engineering superstars Omar Abudayyeh & Jonathan Gootenberg on their continued success beyond MIT! Your innovative spirit is truly shaping the future.
Listen now to their conversation on the podcast Frameshifts with Benjamin Arya:
Listen now to their conversation on the podcast Frameshifts with Benjamin Arya:
Omar Abudayyeh & Jonathan Gootenberg: Virtual Cells, Programmable Biology & the Quest to Hack Aging
YouTube video by Frameshifts with Benjamin Arya
www.youtube.com
November 4, 2025 at 8:44 PM
Congratulations to Collective alumni and gene engineering superstars Omar Abudayyeh & Jonathan Gootenberg on their continued success beyond MIT! Your innovative spirit is truly shaping the future.
Listen now to their conversation on the podcast Frameshifts with Benjamin Arya:
Listen now to their conversation on the podcast Frameshifts with Benjamin Arya:
Hugh Herr speaks with Tilly Lockey on her Open Bionics
podcast “Tilly Talks Tech” about his lived experiences and personal journey, his research and vision for the future of human augmentation, and about the beauty of human diversity.
podcast “Tilly Talks Tech” about his lived experiences and personal journey, his research and vision for the future of human augmentation, and about the beauty of human diversity.
He Lost His Legs — Then Revolutionised Bionics | Hugh Herr on Tilly Talks Tech!
YouTube video by Open Bionics
www.youtube.com
October 30, 2025 at 6:11 PM
Hugh Herr speaks with Tilly Lockey on her Open Bionics
podcast “Tilly Talks Tech” about his lived experiences and personal journey, his research and vision for the future of human augmentation, and about the beauty of human diversity.
podcast “Tilly Talks Tech” about his lived experiences and personal journey, his research and vision for the future of human augmentation, and about the beauty of human diversity.
(1/4) A new Tan-Yang Center for Autism Research study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders from researchers identifies the top ways workplaces can be made more inclusive for autistic employees.
Nonprofit org Neurodiversity in the Workplace also supported the study.
Nonprofit org Neurodiversity in the Workplace also supported the study.
October 23, 2025 at 3:42 PM
(1/4) A new Tan-Yang Center for Autism Research study published in the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders from researchers identifies the top ways workplaces can be made more inclusive for autistic employees.
Nonprofit org Neurodiversity in the Workplace also supported the study.
Nonprofit org Neurodiversity in the Workplace also supported the study.
(1/2) Congratulations to the Yang Tan Collective faculty for winning inaugural MIT Health and Life Sciences (HEALS) Seed Grants!
October 21, 2025 at 2:57 PM
(1/2) Congratulations to the Yang Tan Collective faculty for winning inaugural MIT Health and Life Sciences (HEALS) Seed Grants!
Reposted by Yang Tan Collective
Applying new tools to entire brains, starting with C. elegans, offers the opportunity to uncover how molecules work together to generate neural physiology, and how neurons generate behavior, write @kordinglab.bsky.social and @eboyden3.bsky.social.
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/48EzEO8
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/48EzEO8
Whole-brain, bottom-up neuroscience: The time for it is now
Applying new tools to entire brains, starting with C. elegans, offers the opportunity to uncover how molecules work together to generate neural physiology and how neurons work together to generate…
bit.ly
October 20, 2025 at 2:27 PM
Applying new tools to entire brains, starting with C. elegans, offers the opportunity to uncover how molecules work together to generate neural physiology, and how neurons generate behavior, write @kordinglab.bsky.social and @eboyden3.bsky.social.
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/48EzEO8
#neuroskyence
bit.ly/48EzEO8