Dr. Boyden is professor of biological engineering and brain and cognitive sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab and the MIT McGovern Institute for Brain Research. He received three degrees—two in electrical engineering and computer science, and one in physics—from MIT before completing his Ph.D. in neuroscience at Stanford University. Dr. Boyden leads the Synthetic Neurobiology Group, which develops tools for analyzing and repairing complex biological systems such as the brain, and applies these tools systematically to reveal ground-truth principles of biological function as well as to repair these systems. These technologies include expansion microscopy, which enables complex biological systems to be imaged with nanoscale precision, and optogenetic tools, which facilitate the activation and silencing of neural activity with light. He also codirects the MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering, which aims to develop new tools to accelerate neuroscience progress. Dr. Boyden has received numerous prestigious awards, including the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2016), and has contributed to over 300 peer-reviewed papers, current or pending patents, and articles.
Ed
Boyden, Ph.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, MA