Dr. Ed Boyden — Extending ourselves beyond our brains

Dr. Ed Boyden. Optogenetics Neuro- engineer — Neuroscientist at MIT. Associate member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research Develops ’optogenetic’ tools enabling activation and silencing of neural circuit elements with light; 3-D microfabricated neural interfaces enabling control and readout of neural activity; and robotic methods to automatically record intracellular neural activity and performing single-cell analyses in the living brain. Applies neurotechnologies to analyze and engineer the circuits of the brain and to understand how cognition and emotion arise from brain network operation, and enabling systematic repair of brain disorders such as epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, PTSD, and chronic pain. Launched an award-winning series of MIT classes teaching principles of neuroengineering from basic principles for control and observation of neural functions, culminating with neurotechnology start-up strategies. Stanford University Ph.D. in neuroscience, discovering t