Ed Boyden leads MIT's Synthetic Neurobiology Group, which develops tools for analyzing and repairing complex biological systems such as the brain and applies them systematically to reveal ground-truth principles of biological function as well as to repair these systems. He also co-directs the MIT Center for Neurobiological Engineering, which aims to develop new tools to accelerate neuroscience progress. Among other recognitions, he has received the Carnegie Prize in Mind and Brain Sciences (2015), the Schuetze Prize (2014), the Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award (2013), the Lundbeck "Brain" Prize (2013), the NIH Director's Pioneer Award (2013), the NIH Director's Transformative Research Award (2012 and 2013), and the Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize (2011). In 2012, he was among those on Wired's Smart List "50 People Who Will Change the World." He has launched an award-winning series of classes at MIT that teach principles of neuroengineering, starting with basic principles of how to control and observe neural functions, and culminating with strategies for launching companies in the nascent neurotechnology space. His group has hosted hundreds of visitors to learn how to use neurotechnologies. Boyden earned his Ph.D. in neurosciences as a Hertz Fellow at Stanford University, where he discovered that the molecular mechanisms used to store a memory are determined by the content to be learned. Before that, he received three degrees in electrical engineering, computer science, and physics from MIT. He has contributed to more than 300 peer-reviewed papers, current or pending patents, and articles, and has given more than 300 invited talks on his group's work. Twitter: @eboyden3