Kay Tye improvises to understand our inner lives
Tweaking neurons in lab animals could help reveal what makes us individuals
BRAINTEASER “How do we actually ground the mind in the brain?” is a key question that drives Kay Tye’s research.
Picower Institute
Kay Tye, 36
Neuroscientist
MIT
Here are some of the things Kay Tye relishes: break dancing, rock-climbing, snowboarding, poker, raising her young daughter and son. These adrenaline-fueled activities all require basic skills. But true mastery — and the joy Tye finds in them — comes from improvisation. She boldly steps into a void, a realm where she has to riff, and trusts that a flash of insight will lead the way out.
As a 36-year-old neuroscientist studying how the brain creates experiences, Tye brings this mix of fearlessness and creativity to her lab, where it’s a key ingredient to her success. “Kay always finds this interesting twist,” says Leslie Vosshall, a molecular neurobiologist at Rockefeller
