Contact

Ed Boyden, Ph.D.
Room E15-473B, 20 Ames St.
Cambridge, MA 02139
phone: (617) 324-3085
fax: (617) 253-7035
email: esb@media.mit.edu

Directions to the lab

Here is our location, on the east side of the MIT campus, just south of the Kendall T-stop on the red line. Directions to the MIT campus by plane, subway, car, etc., as well as parking locations on campus, can be found here. Once you're at the building, take the elevator to the 4th floor, turn right through the glass doors, and go down the hallway to our offices. For visitors, emailing or calling in advance is required.

How to support our work

We have created an MIT fund to which you can directly donate, to support invention and application of new technologies towards the development of systematic new cures for neural disorders. Click here and enter a dollar value under the category "Neurotechnology Fund (3893630)" in order to make a donation to support our research.

How to join as a postdoctoral fellow

Independent, energetic postdoctoral fellows with a passion for creating the future are encouraged to write to me. You should be familiar with at least some of the disciplines relevant to molecular or systems neuroscience, or neuroengineering, and want to complete remaining gaps in your education, and you should be seeking a fascinating and interdisciplinary home to try out high-risk, high-payoff projects. I would like to regard a postdoctoral experience in my lab as a mutually educational and collaborative journey into the inventing or solving of something really important. Please feel free to write with a description of your experiences, interests, and current and future goals. Coming with fellowship funding (Helen Hay Whitney, LSRF, etc.) is a plus.

How to do graduate-level research in the lab

Masters or Ph.D. students from almost any MIT department (except Biology, which is a closed department) can do research in our lab. Medical, Ph.D., or MD-Ph.D. students in the Harvard-MIT Health Sciences and Technology program are also welcome. I recommend that you consider applying directly to the MIT Media Lab Ph.D. program; but, given that you can also work in my lab as a student from another Ph.D. program, I strongly advise that you also apply to these other MIT Ph.D. programs as well, such as Biological Engineering, Brain and Cognitive Sciences, HST, EECS, etc. to increase your chances of getting to work in my lab. The Media Lab Ph.D. program itself provides a flexible, research-focused, and broad educational experience, with doctoral students allowed the freedom to learn across all disciplines and expected to be entrepreneurial and groundbreaking in their research. I highly suggest that you apply for and secure a graduate research fellowship (NSF, NDSEG, Hertz, etc.). Information on applying to the MIT Media Lab program can be found here. The deadline for applying is December 15 of each year, for a start date in either June or September of the following year. In the application, you should specify me as one of the faculty you are interested in working with, in order to be considered for my lab. Include a 1-page curriculum vitae, reprints of 2-3 scientific papers/posters/writings/other works, and a statement of scientific interests which includes a description of the kinds of project you would want to do in the lab. Writing directly to me in advance is encouraged.

How to do undergraduate research in the lab

If you are either interested in an independent undergraduate project, or assisting with an existing project for UROP credit or UROP pay, please write to me. I am more interested in your passion, drive, excitement, and commitment rather than any specific skill you have, but you should be committed to making a creative invention or discovery over the long haul, pioneering the way (see report on our lab's UROP philosophy here).

How to join the lab as a research affiliate

We involve many members of the local community, including retirees and entrepreneurs, in our research as volunteers. (In fact, this may be one of the many things that makes our lab interesting, that we view research as a community activity, as delineated in this essay.) If you are interested in contributing, write to me and we can explore possibilities. In particular, we are seeking new kinds of collaboration with retired engineers and scientists, as well as entrepreneurs- and venture capitalists-in-residence.