RareNet 2026: Accelerating Discovery to Treatment in Rare Brain Disorders

• Date: Tuesday, June 9, 2026
• Location: MIT Building 46, Singleton Auditorium (Room 46-3002), 524 Main Street, Cambridge, MA
• Time: 9:00 a.m. - 4:15 p.m. with reception to follow
• Registration Required 
• Register by Monday, June 1
• Poster Session Info: When you register, please indicate if you would like to be considered for the poster session. Submission of a poster title does not guarantee selection. Deadline for submitting poster information for consideration is Friday, May 8

Symposium Overview

The pace of discovery in rare brain disorders has never been faster. Precision genetics, genome editing, RNA modulation, and targeted delivery platforms are redefining what is possible in the brain. Yet the path from discovery to effective treatment remains complex, capital-intensive, and often siloed across disorders and sectors.

RareNet 2026 brings together leaders from academia, biotechnology, and patient advocacy to build a more integrated translational model for rare brain disorders. By bridging discovery science with therapeutic engineering and real-world implementation, the symposium will explore practical strategies to overcome current bottlenecks in translation to clinical development.

Speakers Include: 

• Feng Zhang, McGovern Institute, MIT; HHMI; Broad Institute
• Katherine High, RhyGaze AG; Rockefeller University
• Kiran Musunuru, University of Pennsylvania
• Timothy Yu, Boston Children’s Hospital; Harvard Medical School
• Kevin Bender, University of California San Francisco
• Karen Ball & Matt Shirley, The Sturge-Weber Foundation
• Christopher Walsh, Boston Children’s Hospital; Harvard Medical School
• Sonia Vallabh, Broad Institute; MGH; Harvard Medical School
• Joseph Buxbaum, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai
• Monica Coenraads & John Sinnamon, Rett Syndrome Research Trust
• Samit Dasgupta, FOXP1 Medical Research Foundation