Michale Fee

Michale Fee is a Professor of Neuroscience and Department Head at MIT's Department of Brain and Cognitive Sciences, and an Investigator at the McGovern Institute for Brain Research. His research focuses on understanding how the brain learns and generates complex sequential behaviors using songbirds as a model system. His work has implications for understanding human neurological disorders such as Parkinson’s and Huntington’s disease.

Educational Background: Ph.D. in Applied Physics from Stanford University (1992), B.E. in Engineering Physics from the University of Michigan (1985). Postdoctoral research at Bell Laboratories on vibrissa system neurophysiology before joining MIT in 2003.

Research Focus: The Fee Lab explores neural mechanisms of vocal sequence generation, combining electrophysiology, optical imaging, and computational modeling to dissect how neural circuits produce and refine learned behaviors. Key areas include the interplay of 'nature vs. nurture' in behavior, computational models of learning, and neurotechnology for functional imaging.

Recent Work: Recent studies include self-organization of neural sequences in isolated songbirds (2023), advances in head-mounted microscopes for neural imaging (2023), and synaptic connectivity analysis via SyConn2 (2022). His work bridges basic science and translational insights into human brain disorders.

Awards and Recognition: McKnight Technological Innovations in Neuroscience Award (2018), Simons Collaboration Investigator (2017), MIT Teaching Prize (2016), and multiple fellowships including Dart Scholar (2003).

Lab & Team: The Fee Lab is a collaborative environment with expertise in neurophysiology, engineering, and computational neuroscience. Current projects include developing new imaging technologies and analyzing high-dimensional neural data.