“New Treatment for Rett Syndrome Targets Cerebrospinal Fluid“, by Nicholette Zeliadt, Nov. 15, 2016 SpectrumNews.org features Professor Hensch and his lab while at the 2016 Society for Neuroscience Annual Meeting in San Diego.
The New York Times: “Return to the Teenage Brain” by Richard Freidman October 8, 2016Photo courtesy: The NYTimes, Harry Campbell 10/08/16
“Neurons reprogrammed in animals”>>
November 4, 2015. By B.D. Colen.
BBC World Service:The Forum – Plasticity >>
Aired May 19th. “Bridget Kendall and guests consider plasticity from several viewpoints: Aurora Robson is an artist who works with plastic garbage, Sujata Kundu a nanochemist who analyses plasticity at the level of atoms and electrons, and Takao Hensch a neuroscientist investigating whether it’s possible to recreate youth-like plasticity in an adult brain.”
The Elastic Brain
A child’s brain can master anything from language to music. Can neuroscience extend that genius across the lifespan?
by Rebecca Boyle, February 27, 2015
CLOCK GENES TIME BRAIN DEVELOPMENT
Circadian rhythms outside the brain’s central pacemaker may control the trajectory of brain plasticity
Learn more >>
Read the full story in Neuron >>
rescuing sensory integration in MOUSE MODELS OF AUTISM
Courtesy of Nadine Gogolla
Many people with autism display atypical sensory processing, and in independent studies, abnormalities in a deep brain structure known as the insula. A new study from the Hensch lab reveals that across four different mouse models of autism, the development of sound-touch integration—important for social play in rodents—is impaired. This impairment reflects deficits in inhibitory circuit maturation in the insula and can be rescued by boosting inhibitory neurotransmission early in brain development.
Read more >>
Original journal article in Neuron, “Sensory integration in mouse insular cortex reflects GABA circuit maturation” >>
Harvard Gazette story, “Help for halting autism symptoms” >>
Professor Hensch speaks to THE ATLANTIC AND NPR about 
‘re-opening’ critical period learning in adulthood
Read the Atlantic Article:
“Toward a Pill That Helps Us Learn as Fast as Kids”
Listen to the interview on WBUR’s “On Point” Show with Tom Ashbrook:
“A Pill for ‘Brain Youth’?”
Listen to the interview on NPR’s Weekend Edition with Linda Wertheimer:
“Want Perfect Pitch? You Might Be Able To Pop A Pill For That”
Read the article in Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience that sparked much of this coverage:
“Valproate reopens critical-period learning of absolute pitch”
Valium boosts sound-touch integration in autism mouse model2012 Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative story
Vision problems in Rett syndrome could serve as biomarker2011 Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative story
Online Videos
Shaping Neural Circuits by Early ExperienceProf. Hensch’s talk at the 2011 National Academy of Sciences Sackler Colloquium
Critical Periods and Brain DevelopmentProf. Hensch’s talk at the 2011 One Mind for Research Symposium on Perception
Harvard & Boston Children’s Stories
From discovery to trial: A drug that may correct ‘lazy eye’2013 Boston Children’s research and innovations blog
When Brain Development Goes Awry2012 Center on the Developing Child at Harvard feature on Conte Center
Removing an Endogenous Prototoxin Restores Vision2010 Molecular and Cellular Biology Department news
Hensch Lab 