The Institute figures prominently in "The Lost Symbol", a 2009 work of fiction by best-selling author Dan Brown. Twitter postings on the day before the book's release led Institute director Marilyn Schlitz to purchase the book and read it in one sitting. She told NPR that she found ten experiments conducted by the real-world Institute referred to in Brown's fictional account. NPR reported that after its publication "traffic to institute's website ... increased twelvefold", applications for membership increased and "journalists from places like Dateline NBC — not to mention NPR ..." were seeking interviews with Schlitz.