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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Join us next week for the K. Lisa Yang Brain-Body Center at MIT seminar with Professor Sung-Yon Kim @sykneuro.bsky.social from Seoul National University. We hope to see you there! 💬 How Does Drinking Rapidly Quench Thirst? 🗓️ Tuesday, October 13 | 3-4 PM 🔗 yangtan.mit.edu/about-us/our-events/

yangtan.mit.edu

Events - MIT Yang Tan Collective

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Thank you everyone for joining this event and we hope you see you at the next talk!

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Recap of the Alumni Talk Series: @nogazs.bsky.social gave career advice at an intimate lunch with the Collective community and discussed her research 𝗠𝗲𝗮𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗱: 𝗟𝗼𝘀𝘀𝘆 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗶𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗿𝗲𝗻, 𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘂𝗮𝗹𝘀, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗟𝗟𝗠𝘀! 💬

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

📚 Noga's research integrates information theory, machine learning, + cognitive science to study the computational principles underlying language, learning, and reasoning in humans and AI.

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Join us for the Yang Tan Collective Alumni Talk Series featuring Noga Zaslavsky, a former ICoN Postdoc Fellow; she’s currently an Assistant Professor of Psychology at New York University. ⬇️ 🔗 For more information, please visit: yangtan.mit.edu/about-us/our...

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Former Yang ICoN Fellow and current assistant professor in the CMU School of Computer Science Aran Nayebi @anayebi.bsky.social talks about neuroscience + AI in Does Compute, a podcast presented by Carnegie Mellon University School of Computer Science and GeekWire Studios. Watch ⬇️

youtube.com

Very Much Inspired By the Nervous System

YouTube video by GeekWire

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

A gene therapy developed by Guoping Feng & team at the Tan-Yang Center for Autism Research is now in clinical trials for Phelan-McDermid syndrome. In this talk at the Phelan-McDermid Family Conference, Feng shares the science and journey behind the therapy ⬇️ 🔗📺 www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghUw...

youtube.com

Knowledge for the Climb: Genetics and Gene Therapy - 2026 PMSF Family Conference

YouTube video by Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Foundation

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Watch K. Lisa Yang ICoN Graduate Fellow Davy Deng discuss the topic of mind-uploading (or whole brain emulation) and how C. elegans, a 1 mm worm with an impressive resume, contributes to it in his TEDxMIT talk “What does mind-uploading actually require?” 💻⬇️

youtube.com

What does mind-uploading actually require? | Davy Deng | TEDxMIT

YouTube video by TEDx Talks

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

Yang Tan Collective co-founder Hock Tan was recently featured as a prominent leader in TIME’s list of 100 Most Influential People in AI (TIME100 AI 2026). Congratulations! 👏 🔗 Read more about his work and partnerships: time.com/collection/time100-ai/2026/hock-tan/

time.com

TIME100 AI 2026: Hock Tan

Find out why Hock Tan made TIME’s list of the most influential people in artificial intelligence

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

💬 “We will reconstruct 3D volumes of brain connectivity based on these 2D EM images, aiming to map the hard wire across different neurons in the brain and understand how their wiring patterns generate the brain functions, which is breathing rhythmogenesis in our projects." -Liu

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 27/08/2026

Ming Liu, a Yang ICoN Postdoctoral Fellow, imaged a cell's ultrastructure with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to be able to view essential organelles. 🔬 Wang lab and Dorkenwald lab at MIT + Lee lab at Harvard Medical School. Images were created together w/ Liu and a Harvard grad student ⬇️

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

What if we could engineer scientific revolutions rather than wait for them to happen? Yang Tan Collective’s @eboyden3.bsky.social and Denisa Lepadatu explore a provocative new model for accelerating discovery in their Substack article. 📚 Read more: uniconq.substack.com/p/the-ground...

uniconq.substack.com

The Ground Truth Institute

Could we engineer scientific revolutions, then spin out radical improvements to everyday life?

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

🔗 read more: yangtan.mit.edu/news-stories/high-speed-microscopy-reveals-electrical-activity-across-the-brain/ 📚 read the study: Voltage imaging of neurons distributed across entire brains of larval zebrafish; www.nature.com/articles/s41592-026-03179-7 Image courtesy of the researchers

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 18/08/2026

Ed Boyden & his team, including Zeguan Wang ('25-'26 J. Douglas Tan Postdoc Fellow), invented a microscope that can capture high-res images of a brain’s electrical impulses from individual neurons—allowing researchers to further study how the brain works in varied situations. ⬇️

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

📚 Purchase 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻: 𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝗻𝗼𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀 𝗧𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗦𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗲, 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝗻𝘀𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 here: a.co/d/00DBxwnn

a.co

Amazon.com

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Co-authors Amos Winter and Vijay Govindarajan introduce & discuss their new book 𝗚𝗹𝗼𝗯𝗮𝗹 𝗯𝘆 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗴𝗻 (released on August 11 🎉) on Harvard Business Review IdeaCast; “The Innovation Strategy Most Companies Miss” ep 1091. 🎧 Listen: hbr.org/podcast/2026/08/the-innovation-strategy-most-companies-miss

hbr.org

The Innovation Strategy Most Companies Miss

A conversation with Dartmouth’s Vijay Govindarajan and MIT’s Amos Winter on why designing for emerging markets before developed ones can yield benefits.

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

The Zhang lab is also investigating how to apply similar techniques to treat other conditions, such as neurological diseases. ➡️ Preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

Virus-like nanoparticles can transmit gene-editing tools into “muscle and help restore a critical protein in a mouse model of Duchenne muscular dystrophy,” according to Feng Zhang's new preprint. Read about it on The Transmitter ⬇️

thetransmitter.org

Nanoparticles deliver gene-editing tools into Duchenne mice

The approach uses a protein found in fruit flies to ferry the gene editor Cas9 into muscle cells.

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Your next read is here thanks to co-authors Amos Winter (director of the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Center) & Vijay Govindarajan! Their upcoming book releases on August 11, 2026 🎉 ➡️📚 Pre-order now on Amazon: a.co/d/00DBxwnn

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 27/07/2026

In his recent Foresight Institute Vision Weekend talk, @eboyden3.bsky.social argues that breakthrough tools — and the therapies they enable — depend on long-term support for unconventional ideas. 💻 ⬇️ Watch: Ed Boyden | Incentives in Science @ Vision Weekend UK 2026 #YangTanCollective

youtube.com

Ed Boyden | Incentives in Science @ Vision Weekend UK 2026

YouTube video by Foresight Institute

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

Read Lampoon Magazine's interview with Hugh Herr: Despite tragedy, his ambitions for himself allowed him to bring light into the “dark ages of prosthetics” by working on allowing people to not only move again, but to sense and feel once more. lampoonmagazine.com/hugh-herr-in...

lampoonmagazine.com

Hugh Herr builds the cyborg: prostheses the brain feels and controls as its own

After losing both legs at seventeen, Hugh Herr turned limitation into design, engineering prostheses that seamlessly connect flesh, skin, nerves and circuits through bidirectional neural interfaces

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

So proud of Soha for this well-deserved recognition! The Yang Tan Collective community at Harvard is stronger because of her leadership, thoughtfulness, and unwavering commitment. She makes great science possible every day!

thetransmitter.org

Making an impact through academic administration

As executive director of research at Harvard Medical School, Soha Ashrafi supports more than 300 scientists, students and staff members.

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

...all while becoming a mother during her PhD journey. An extraordinary achievement and an exciting new chapter ahead!

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

Congrats, Dr. Francesca Riccio-Ackerman!🎓 We're so proud of Francesca for completing her doctoral work in the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics at MIT where she focused on strengthening Sierra Leone’s prosthetics and orthotics sector and expanding access to high-quality care...⬇️

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

“There are aspects of thinking that seem to go beyond some of the limitations of language,” says Hope Kean. Read more about the study: 🔗 Article: yangtan.mit.edu/news-stories/separating-logic-and-language/ 📚 Study: www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2520095123

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Does logical reasoning require language? According to new research from @evfedorenko.bsky.social, @hopekean.bsky.social, and collaborating neuroscientists, study participants were able to solve various complex logic games and puzzles without language, showing that: no, language is not necessary. ⬇️

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

🔗 Read more: www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/cambridge-receives-34-5million-donation-for-research-to-help-improve-the-health-and-wellbeing-of

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

The Yang Tan Collective is excited to welcome and collaborate with the newly announced K. Lisa Yang Centre for Autism Research at Cambridge, which was established to support autism research aimed at improving the health and well-being of autistic people and their families!

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

While it is not clear yet how these regions contribute to language processing, researchers have been making headway “toward determining the functions of the cerebellar regions that they identified.” Read more here: news.mit.edu/2026/brain-l...

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Evelina Fedorenko and her team, including Aaron Wright, a Yang Post-Bacc scholar, have analyzed fMRI data from 700+ people and discovered that language processing may occur in 17 additional regions of the brain, not just in the left hemisphere of the brain 🧠💬 ⬇️

news.mit.edu

The brain’s language network is more extensive than previously thought

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from more than 700 people, MIT researchers identified 17 brain regions outside of the canonical language-processing centers that are also involv...

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

🔗 Hock E. Tan was born in Penang, Malaysia, came to the US to study at MIT, and is currently the president and CEO of Broadcom. Read his profile here: carnegie.org/great-immigr...

carnegie.org

Hock E. Tan

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 30/06/2026

Congratulations to Hock E. Tan, co-founder of the Yang Tan Collective, for being honored as part of the Andrew Carnegie Foundation @carnegie.org's 2026 Class of Great Immigrants, Great Americans! 🇺🇸 🎉 Congrats to him and all the honorees 👏 #YangTanCollective #GreatImmigrants

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 25/06/2026

🗓️ Don't miss "Body Alchemy" at @pioneerwork.bsky.social in Brooklyn on 7/19, feat Hugh Herr & Ana Rajčević from the Yang Center for Bionics. This event will explore how breakthroughs in bionics, neural interfaces, and embodied design are redefining the future of the human body. RSVP ⬇️

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

Congratulations to Carolina Warneryd and Duncan Lee of the K. Lisa Yang Center for Bionics on their success at the 2026 MIT Mechanical Engineering De Florez Awards! 👏👏 🔗 www.media.mit.edu/posts/two-biomechatronics-researchers-are-among-the-winners-of-de-florez-awards-at-mexpo-2026/

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

In a new Frontiers for Young Minds article, Y. Eva Tan Professor Ed Boyden explains optogenetics 🔆🧠 This article was edited with young reviewers, Elizabeth (age 13) and Klara (age 13), who provided feedback to ensure their peers and young audiences could understand the article. ⬇️

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Congratulations to Yang ICoN fellow Andrea de Varda @andreadevarda.bsky.social, who has been named a winner of the prestigious Glushko Dissertation Prize! 👏👏 🔗 cognitivesciencesociety.org/glushko-dissertation-prize/ @cogscisociety.bsky.social

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

(2/2) The symposium also showcased the next generation of researchers, with a dozen trainees presenting their innovative work during a lively poster session. 📸 Ila Fiete, MIT; Fenna Krienen, Princeton University; attendees during break

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

(1/2) More than 150 scientists attended the 2026 Yang ICoN Center Symposium hosted by Ila Fiete on May 21. Eight leading faculty shared insights on how neural structure and function emerge during development, spanning both experimental and theoretical perspectives.

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

(2/2) These findings are reshaping our understanding of human immunity’s ancient origins and revealing a vast reservoir of biological strategies refined through billions of years of evolution.

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 26/05/2026

(1/2) A fascinating @science.org feature highlights the breadth of newly identified bacterial defense systems, including groundbreaking work from the Yang Tan Collective led by Feng Zhang. ⬇️ (cont.)

science.org

Ancient wars between microbes gave us key immune defenses

A better understanding of battles between bacteria and viruses could inspire new medicines

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

🔗 Links 📚Mexican Press Agency feature: mexicanpressagency.org/newsroom-posts/guillermo-herrera-arcos 📚MIT News: news.mit.edu/2026/turning-muscles-into-motors-gives-static-organs-new-life-0331

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 13/05/2026

The Mexican Press Agency spotlights Yang Center for Bionics postdoc Guillermo Herrera-Arcos, who is developing incredible “living” implants that could one day restore movement and function to paralyzed organs. Read the feature linked below! @mitmedialab.bsky.social #YangTanCollective

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 07/05/2026

‼️ POSTER SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED UNTIL MAY 8! (Check out post for more information) Register for the 2026 ICoN Center Symposium and submit your poster here: www.eventbrite.com/e/2026-icon-center-symposium-self-organization-and-emergence-in-development-tickets-1982815550688

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

“Providing this kind of resource will lead to new ideas and new hypotheses to test. It will also let us look for changes in disease models to help us understand the pathology of brain disorders,” says Feng. 🔗 yangtan.mit.edu/mapping-the-brains-uncertain-zone

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 06/05/2026

The zona incerta has a lot of unknowns, but Guoping Feng and his team, including Ryan Kast (a former J. Douglas Tan Postdoctoral Fellow), have been researching how “different types of neurons within the zona incerta contribute to the region’s many functions.”

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Yang Tan Collective @yangtancollective.bsky.social · 30/04/2026

The Yang Tan Collective celebrates two faculty members for being elected to the National Academy of Sciences. Congratulations Michale Fee and Fan Wang! 👏🎉

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