LI-HUEI TSAI, PH.D.
Lead Investigator, MIT’s Aging Brain Initiative
Picower Professor of Neuroscience, Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences,
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Associate Director of the Glenn Labs for Aging Research at MIT
Associate Member, Broad Institute
Professor Tsai is a leader in understanding the molecular pathophysiology of neurological disorders affecting cognition. Her work has brought new mechanisms for learning, memory and neurodegeneration to light and suggests new paths for combatting age-related memory loss. Landmark discoveries include pinpointing major genetic risk for Alzheimer’s disease to immune genes, identifying chromatin-modifiers and kinases that regulate brain flexibility and can be targeted to improve cognition in Alzheimer’s disease, and discovering that genomic integrity is critical for neuronal protection during both aging and neurodegenerative disease.
Dr. Tsai is a recipient of the Young Investigator Award, Metropolitan Life Foundation, Outstanding Contributor Award of the Alzheimer Research Forum, the NIH Cantoni Lecture Award and the Glenn Award For Research in Biological Mechanisms of Aging. She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Alzheimer’s Academy of Science and a member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, the Neurodegeneration Consortium and Taiwan’s Academia Sinica.
Dr. Tsai has authored and co-authored over 130 peer-reviewed articles published in Nature, Cell, Neuron, Molecular Psychiatry, The Journal of Neuroscience, Nature Neuroscience, and the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Her research has been featured in National Geographic and the Boston Globe.
Dr. Tsai is a member of the Cure Alzheimer’s Fund Research Consortium.