Mriganka Sur
Paul E. Newton Professor of Neuroscience; Head, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences
areas of expertise: neuroscience, development and plasticity of the cerebral cortex, plasticity and dynamics of the adult cortex, cellular, systems and computational approaches to cortical networks and processing, developmental disorders of the brain, brain and cognitive sciences
Mriganka Sur is the Paul E. Newton Professor of Neuroscience, head of the Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and director of the Simons Initiative on Autism and the Brain at MIT.
Sur studies the organization, development and plasticity of the cerebral cortex of the brain using experimental and theoretical approaches. He has discovered fundamental principles by which networks of the cerebral cortex are wired during development and change dynamically during learning.
His laboratory has identified gene networks underlying cortical plasticity, and pioneered high resolution imaging methods to study cells, synapses and circuits of the intact brain. Recently, his group has demonstrated novel mechanisms underlying disorders of brain development, and proposed innovative strategies for treating such disorders.
Sur received the BTech degree in electrical engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, in 1974 and the PhD degree in electrical engineering from Vanderbilt University, Nashville, in 1978. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the Charles Judson Herrick Award of the American Association of Anatomists, the A.P. Sloan Fellowship, the McKnight Development Award, the Hans-Lukas Teuber Scholar Award, the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, the Sigma Xi Lectureship, and the Foundation Day Medal of the National Brain Research Center, India. At MIT, he has received awards for outstanding teaching and been recognized with the Sherman Fairchild and Newton Chairs. He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Society of the UK, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Neuroscience Research Program, the National Academy of Sciences, India, the Rodin Academy, Sweden, and the Third World Academy of Sciences.
request an interview: Sarah McDonnell | 617-253-8923 | s_mcd@mit.edu