17q12

Recent articles

Overhead view of crowd of people walking in Copenhagen city square.

Population study downgrades some copy number variants’ impact on autism

Some copy number variants may boost a person’s chances of having autism, but to a lesser extent than previously thought.

By Charles Q. Choi
28 January 2022 | 5 min read
Illustration showing large group of people in a shape suggestive of a GWAS visual, connected to a pertri dish. The image is suggestive of large scale genetics research.

From 0 to 60 in 10 years

After a decade of fast-paced discovery, researchers are racing toward bigger datasets, more genes and a deeper understanding of the biology of autism.

By Simon Makin
27 June 2017 | 15 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of cake with genetic code inside.

The genome offers a recipe, not a blueprint, for the brain

During brain development, genes set the rules and turn the knobs; self-organization does much of the rest.

By Ila Fiete
2 November 2026 | 8 min read
Illustration of four faces of a rhesus macaque transitioning from opaque to transparent.

Autism research involving monkeys contends with uphill battle

Macaques and marmosets recapitulate the condition’s core traits better than mice can, but funding uncertainty and challenges at primate centers in the United States could make this work difficult to continue.

By Diana Kwon
2 November 2026 | 8 min read
A measuring cup with a whirlpool in it.

When is self-organization a mechanism in brain development?

Retinal waves offer a powerful example of a self-organizing system that can build structure without external guidance. The field would do well to embrace such phenomena more broadly as a type of mechanistic explanation.

By P. Robin Hiesinger
2 November 2026 | 6 min read