[{"id":256565,"date":"2026-09-17T16:47:50","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T20:47:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=256565"},"modified":"2026-09-22T11:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:38:09","slug":"incredible-shrinking-grant-deadlines-at-the-brain-initiative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/funding\/incredible-shrinking-grant-deadlines-at-the-brain-initiative\/","title":{"rendered":"Incredible shrinking grant deadlines at the BRAIN Initiative"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cA month is crazy,\u201d says one former recipient, referring to a new funding opportunity\u2019s timeline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":256566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[107,40],"class_list":["post-256565","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-funding","tag-policy"],"acf":{"primary_tag":107,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/PTAN9112","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"feat_image","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"Tight timeline:<\/strong> Scientists have been given just 38 days to apply for the latest funding opportunity offered by the BRAIN Initiative.","hero_by":"Illustration by Rebecca Horne \/ Source: iStock\/ baona","hero_credit":"","hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[107146],"other_authors":"","related_title":"Explore more from The Transmitter<\/em>","related_hide":false,"related_filter":"latest","related_tag":null,"related_category":null,"related_custom":{"articles":null},"related_custom_wwn":{"articles":null},"newsletter":"","banner_content":"","banner_url":"","apple_article_id":"960f8c22-f92d-4dc4-a66a-9cb8f31b1ee4","apple_article_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","google_button_text":"","google_btn_bg_color":"","tooltip_text":"","sidebar_related_hide":false,"sidebar_related_title":"related articles","sidebar_related_hide_images":false,"sidebar_related_articles":"","comps":[{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"The scramble began on 31 August.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThat was the day that the National Institutes of Health released a new notice for a funding opportunity from the BRAIN Initiative.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe \u201cIntegrated BRAIN Circuits Program\u201d<\/span> offers around $1 million per year and requires \u201c<\/span>a high level of coordination and sharing<\/span><\/a>\u201d among teams of three to six investigators.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe program has been <\/span>in the works at the NIH for over a year<\/span><\/a>, but prospective applicants have only 38 days to submit their completed application. The deadline is 7 October.<\/span>\r\n\r\nFrom that, subtract the seven-plus days that university grant administrators typically demand to review outgoing proposals.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s just not enough time,\u201d says <\/span>Zhe Sage Chen<\/span><\/a>, professor of neuroscience at New York University, who was invited to join two separate teams applying for the BRAIN Initiative's circuits program earlier this month. One team has since decided to postpone their application for another year. \u201cThey don\u2019t even have the right people yet,\u201d Chen says.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe shrinking deadlines for the BRAIN Initiative and other programs at the National Institutes of Health represent one more way in which the Trump Administration appears to be straitjacketing the funding agency, which has seen <\/span>programs canceled<\/span><\/a> and <\/span>budgets slashed<\/span><\/a> in recent years.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhen NIH <\/span>launched<\/span><\/a> its Autism Data Science Initiative in May 2025, investigators only had a month to submit a full proposal.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAt the time, the NIH said that \u201cthe timeline is shortened to allow NIH to commit the funds for this ROA [research opportunity announcement] by the end of the fiscal year.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nBut such tight deadlines have become the rule rather than the exception. \u201cA month is crazy,\u201d says one BRAIN Initiative grantee, who asked not to be named so that he could talk openly. \u201c[The Administration\u2019s] goal is, I think, to just screw NIH as badly as they can.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='John Ngai<\/span>']It\u2019s no secret that getting these NOFOs published has been taking longer than it has in the past.<\/span>[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\n[tt_text class='']L[\/tt_text]aunched in <\/span>April 2013<\/span><\/a>, the BRAIN Initiative aims to help develop technologies that can improve our understanding of how the brain works and how certain brain disorders arise. Since 2023, its funding <\/span>has declined<\/span><\/a> by more than 30 percent from a high of $680 million.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nAlthough the initiative received <\/span>a boost from Congress earlier this year<\/span><\/a>, the Administration has since made it difficult for grantmakers to give out their funds.<\/span>\r\n\r\nFor example, in previous years, the NIH posted the BRAIN Initiative\u2019s notice for funding opportunities (NOFOs) anywhere from <\/span>three<\/span><\/a> to <\/span>eight months<\/span><\/a> prior to the first submission deadline.<\/span>\r\n\r\nBut <\/span>John Ngai<\/span><\/a>, director of the BRAIN Initiative, says that these funding announcements can now be released only after they have been cleared by the Department of Health and Human Services, which is led by political appointees.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s no secret that getting these NOFOs published has been taking longer than it has in the past,\u201d he says. \u201cBecause of budget fluctuations, we had to put a pause on certain programs, and we kind of got ourselves reoriented.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe Department of Health and Human Services did not directly answer questions from <\/span>The Transmitter <\/span><\/i>about delays in approval or the rationale behind them.<\/span>\r\n\r\nA statement attributed to the National Institutes of Health noted that \u201cforecasted funding opportunities are now posted well in advance of application windows, giving the research community adequate time to prepare.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nResearchers, however, say that after so many programs were canceled last year, they are reluctant to trust such forecasts, which rarely provide a firm timeline or a guarantee that the program will move forward.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cSometimes the prediction is accurate, sometimes it\u2019s not,\u201d Chen says. \u201cIf you ask the P.O. [program officer], they don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nAs with the BRAIN Initiative, the latest round of funding for the National Institute of Mental Health\u2019s Conte Centers program <\/span>was first forecast in August 2025<\/span><\/a>, but the notice of funding <\/span>was only released this month<\/span><\/a>. That deadline is 15 October.<\/span>\r\n\r\nUnder federal law, calls for funding <\/span>must be open for a minimum of 30 days<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nNgai says he\u2019s hopeful that he will soon have some exciting proposals for the BRAIN circuits program in his inbox. \u201cThe not-so-good-news is people need to get themselves together quickly to do it,\u201d he says.<\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256565","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256565"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256565\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256624,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256565\/revisions\/256624"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/107146"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"post_tag","href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/107"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256565"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256565"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256565"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":256371,"date":"2026-09-17T00:00:21","date_gmt":"2026-09-17T04:00:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=256371"},"modified":"2026-09-22T11:27:48","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:27:48","slug":"sylvia-fogel-reshaping-u-s-autism-research-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/spectrum\/sylvia-fogel-reshaping-u-s-autism-research-strategy\/","title":{"rendered":"Sylvia Fogel, reshaping U.S. autism research strategy"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a wide-ranging and provocative interview, the chair of the federal Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee shares her views on vaccines, regression, neuroimmune conditions and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":256503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[17,40,420,197],"class_list":["post-256371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-autism","tag-policy","tag-regression","tag-spectrum"],"acf":{"primary_tag":197,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/LGRP8878","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"youtube","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"o2VMYzDbsBY","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"","hero_by":"","hero_credit":"","hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[107144],"other_authors":"","related_title":"Explore more from The Transmitter<\/em>","related_hide":false,"related_filter":"latest","related_tag":null,"related_category":null,"related_custom":{"articles":null},"related_custom_wwn":{"articles":null},"newsletter":"","banner_content":"","banner_url":"","apple_article_id":"2e4b8c89-d118-42d5-a5a3-21133bcdbe28","apple_article_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","google_button_text":"","google_btn_bg_color":"","tooltip_text":"","sidebar_related_hide":false,"sidebar_related_title":"related articles","sidebar_related_hide_images":false,"sidebar_related_articles":"","comps":[{"acf_fc_layout":"callout_comp","callout_title":"Editor's note","callout_copy":"Update: Following the publication of this interview, on 18 September 2026, United States Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. replaced Sylvia Fogel as chair of the IACC, Reuters<\/i> reports<\/a>, naming John Gaitanis, director of the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, as the new chair. Fogel remains on the committee as one of 20 public members, according to Reuters<\/i>.","callout_color":"red"},{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"Last month, the panel that advises the U.S. government on autism research funding adopted a new strategic plan. The Interagency Autism Coordinating Committee (IACC) de-emphasized genetics and called for more research on environmental factors and the causes of <\/span>regression<\/span><\/a>, among other topics.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWe interviewed IACC chair <\/span>Sylvia Fogel<\/span><\/a>, a psychiatrist and instructor at Harvard Medical School, about her views on autism and priorities for research. In this wide-ranging and provocative conversation, conducted over two sessions, we asked Fogel for her thoughts on vaccines, regression and neuroimmune conditions, such as <\/span>PANS and PANDAS<\/span><\/a>. We also asked her about the makeup of the <\/span>current IACC committee<\/span><\/a> and its goals.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cWe have open spaces on the committee,\u201d Fogel says. \u201cI hope that we could have some more researchers on the committee.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nRead the transcript<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe video has been edited to combine the <\/i>parts of the <\/i>two interviews <\/i>that discuss related topics <\/i>and remove repetitive questions and answers.<\/i>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256371"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256621,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256371\/revisions\/256621"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/107144"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"post_tag","href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":256378,"date":"2026-09-16T11:00:16","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T15:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=256378"},"modified":"2026-09-22T11:24:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:24:46","slug":"human-brain-organoids-flourish-in-emptied-mouse-cortex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/spectrum\/human-brain-organoids-flourish-in-emptied-mouse-cortex\/","title":{"rendered":"Human brain organoids flourish in emptied mouse cortex"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The chimeric mice could help untangle the biology of human brain development or conditions such as autism.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":256381,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[17,457,29,322,24,56,157,39,197],"class_list":["post-256378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-autism","tag-brain","tag-cortex","tag-developmental-neuroscience","tag-mouse-models","tag-neural-circuits","tag-neurodevelopment","tag-organoids","tag-spectrum"],"acf":{"primary_tag":197,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/OTCV7043","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"feat_image","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"Long range:<\/strong> Nerve fibers from the human graft (green and red) extend throughout the mouse brain (blue).","hero_by":"S. Pa\u0219ca lab, Stanford University","hero_credit":"","hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[107153],"other_authors":"","related_title":"Explore more from The Transmitter<\/em>","related_hide":false,"related_filter":"latest","related_tag":null,"related_category":null,"related_custom":{"articles":null},"related_custom_wwn":{"articles":null},"newsletter":"","banner_content":"","banner_url":"","apple_article_id":"9b616efb-b2c9-4b51-8c99-8b0d31c90d5c","apple_article_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQ==","google_button_text":"","google_btn_bg_color":"","tooltip_text":"","sidebar_related_hide":false,"sidebar_related_title":"related articles","sidebar_related_hide_images":false,"sidebar_related_articles":"","comps":[{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"Human cortical organoids transplanted into newborn mice integrate into the nervous system and form circuits that support electrical activity, according to a new study<\/a> published today in <\/span>Nature. <\/span><\/i>The mice were engineered to lack nearly all of their cerebral cortex, creating space for the human-derived tissue to take hold.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe researchers then used the \u2018xenocortical\u2019 mice to model hypoxia, a state that occurs when brain cells don\u2019t get enough oxygen. When hypoxia occurs prenatally or around the time of birth, it can cause cerebral palsy; it is also associated <\/span>with autism<\/span><\/a> and epilepsy.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe transplantation approach could serve as a new tool to study typical development and neurodevelopmental conditions, as well as test potential therapeutics, says <\/span>Hongjun Song<\/span><\/a>, professor of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Perlman School of Medicine, who was not involved in the study.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cNow you have a model, a live model where you can actually test all of this with human cells in live animals,\u201d Song says.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe lack of access to living brain tissue has presented a long-standing barrier to understanding human development. Brain organoids derived from human stem cells have opened up <\/span>fresh possibilities<\/span><\/a>, and transplanting the organoids <\/span>into animals<\/span><\/a> such as rats can help the human cells mature even further and form more complex circuits. But physical space within the rodents is finite, and the human neurons can struggle to establish themselves.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cThey will be outcompeted by mouse cells very quickly,\u201d says <\/span>Sergiu Pa\u0219ca<\/span><\/a>, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University and the study\u2019s senior investigator. \u201cIt\u2019s also very difficult to actually distentangle, to be honest, the effect of the human versus the mouse.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nIn the new paper, Pa\u0219ca and his team used a knockout strategy to design a mouse model. They deleted ESCO2, a protein that aids in cell division,<\/span> from cells expressing a marker for the dorsal and medial pallium, the areas of the embryonic forebrain that give rise to the cortex and hippocampus. The team also designed the mice to be immunocompromised so that the animals would not reject the human cells.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe resulting mice were missing 98 percent of their cortex and hippocampus and had a 50 percent decrease in total brain tissue, compared with controls. Even so, the mice exhibited only minor behavioral changes, such as having a more cautious gait.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cThese animals are not perfectly normal but also surprisingly functional, much more than we thought they would be,\u201d Pa\u0219ca says.\u00a0<\/span>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image_comp","aspect_ratio":"inline3-2","title":"","image":256380,"link":"","image_caption":"Road map:<\/strong> An MRI scan reveals an estimated map of nerve-fiber pathways and directions (green, top to bottom; red, front to back; blue, side to side). ","image_byline":{"by":"S. Pa\u0219ca lab, Stanford University","credit":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"[tt_text class='']T[\/tt_text]he researchers successfully transplanted the human organoids into 25 out of 29 newborn engineered mice. The human-derived tissue proliferated, taking over the space and growing 4.7-fold between two and three months after transplantation. The grafts integrated into the mouse nervous system, and the mice performed similarly to wildtype controls on motor, learning and social tests.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cReplacing a substantial portion of an animal brain with human neural tissue represents an impressive technical advance,\u201d <\/span>In-Hyun Park<\/span><\/a>, associate professor of genetics and neuroscience at Yale School of Medicine, wrote in an email to <\/span>The Transmitter<\/span><\/i>. Park was not involved in the study.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe grafts contained a diverse range of human cortical cell types, including rare von Economo neurons. VENs, which appear in large-brained, social animals, are implicated in some neuropsychiatric conditions and have been challenging to produce in cell culture, the paper says.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='In-Hyun Park<\/span>']Replacing a substantial portion of an animal brain with human neural tissue represents an impressive technical advance.<\/span>[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\nThe researchers then tracked the calcium dynamics in graft-derived neurons. Large, synchronous bursts occurred every few minutes, correlating with mouth and facial movements. Electrophysiologic signals also matched the bursts and were detected across the electrode, suggesting that the graft forms into a functional neural network, the researchers wrote.<\/span>\r\n\r\nTo test if the mice could be used to study disease, the researchers modeled hypoxic injury, which affects humans more severely than mice. The team exposed xenocortical, cortex-less and control mice to low oxygen for five hours. The xenocortical mice were uniquely impacted, showing trouble maintaining their balance and sustaining a steady gait.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_text class='']T[\/tt_text]he grafted organoids have their own set of limitations, Pa\u0219ca says. The human-derived neurons still develop at their same, slower pace than the mouse cells. The tool so far applies only to the earliest stages of human development and is limited by the lifespan of the mice.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe neurons also aren\u2019t organized in layers, and the organoids lack inhibitory neurons. Variability in how the organoids grow and integrate might make it difficult to answer some questions, says <\/span>Joseph Gleeson<\/span><\/a>, professor of neuroscience at the University of California, San Diego, who was not involved with the work.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt doesn\u2019t build a new cortex. What it does is it gives a lot of room for these organoids, or the cells in the organoids, to divide and grow and take up residence,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s the single biggest finding and also the single biggest limitation.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cThis was about the best you can do at this point,\u201d he adds. \u201cI\u2019m really interested to see where the field goes.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe team also published details on the experiment\u2019s ethical oversight, describing how they consulted with bioethicists and other neuroscientists throughout the project. In addition, Stanford convened a group of legal scholars, patient advocates, ethicists and scientists to oversee and provide feedback on the experiments, as neuroscientists continue to <\/span>grapple with the ethics<\/span><\/a> of creating increasingly sophisticated human brain organoids.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nMeanwhile, the model could help investigate both environmental injuries and genetic conditions. \u201cEvery time you have somebody with a genetic mutation, you can either induce it in control cells, or you can take that patient\u2019s cells and transplant them,\u201d Pa\u0219ca says.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe approach is also apt to answer basic questions about how human circuits form, he adds. \u201cWhat makes human circuits unique? Or primate circuits so unique?\u201d he says. \u201cHow are they processing information very early in development?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256378","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256378"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256378\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256620,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256378\/revisions\/256620"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/107153"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"post_tag","href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256381"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":256295,"date":"2026-09-16T00:00:49","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T04:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=256295"},"modified":"2026-09-22T11:20:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T15:20:44","slug":"what-if-hegel-were-a-neuroscientist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/brain-inspired\/what-if-hegel-were-a-neuroscientist\/","title":{"rendered":"What if Hegel were a neuroscientist?"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Andrea Gambarotto shares what Hegel and enactivism have in common: an agency-first approach to understanding minds and brains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":256302,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[156],"tags":[613,147],"class_list":["post-256295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-podcasts","tag-brain-inspired","tag-philosophy"],"acf":{"primary_tag":613,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/MVBN2998","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"youtube","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"26itPsS3smw","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"","hero_by":"","hero_credit":"","hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[211244],"other_authors":"","related_title":"Explore more from The Transmitter<\/em>","related_hide":false,"related_filter":"latest","related_tag":null,"related_category":null,"related_custom":{"articles":null},"related_custom_wwn":{"articles":null},"newsletter":"","banner_content":"","banner_url":"","apple_article_id":"0a19a717-aa35-400b-a3a0-e8c348665be3","apple_article_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","google_button_text":"","google_btn_bg_color":"","tooltip_text":"","sidebar_related_hide":false,"sidebar_related_title":"related articles","sidebar_related_hide_images":false,"sidebar_related_articles":"","comps":[{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"In this \"Brain Inspired\" episode, Paul Middlebrooks talks with<\/span> Andrea Gambarotto<\/span><\/a>, a postdoctoral philosopher and researcher at the University of Luxembourg. Gambarotto discusses how German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and enactivism flip neuroscience on its head, suggesting we use minds to explain the brain, not brains to explain the mind.<\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256295"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256295\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256616,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256295\/revisions\/256616"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/211244"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"post_tag","href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":256284,"date":"2026-09-16T00:00:06","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T04:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=256284"},"modified":"2026-09-22T13:48:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-22T17:48:27","slug":"this-paper-changed-my-life-transformative-work-in-addiction-neuroscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/this-paper-changed-my-life\/this-paper-changed-my-life-transformative-work-in-addiction-neuroscience\/","title":{"rendered":"This paper changed my life: Transformative work in addiction neuroscience"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A 2011 Nature<\/em> study found that loss of a nicotinic receptor subunit leads to increased nicotine intake in mice. The work set the standard for how to functionally validate genetic association study findings in neuroscience.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":256288,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[139],"tags":[262,27,251,593],"class_list":["post-256284","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspectives","tag-addiction","tag-audio-research-news","tag-molecular-neuroscience","tag-this-paper-changed-my-life"],"acf":{"primary_tag":593,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/BEKP2034","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"feat_image","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"Beyond correlation:<\/strong> This work identified a concrete mechanism through which genetic risk influences drug-taking behavior.","hero_by":"Illustration by","hero_credit":238774,"hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[255674],"other_authors":"","related_title":"Explore more from The Transmitter<\/em>","related_hide":false,"related_filter":"latest","related_tag":null,"related_category":null,"related_custom":{"articles":null},"related_custom_wwn":{"articles":null},"newsletter":"","banner_content":"","banner_url":"","apple_article_id":"eeb5556a-87ab-4224-bbf8-2a131af55b9e","apple_article_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","google_button_text":"","google_btn_bg_color":"","tooltip_text":"","sidebar_related_hide":false,"sidebar_related_title":"related articles","sidebar_related_hide_images":false,"sidebar_related_articles":"","comps":[{"acf_fc_layout":"audio_comp","audio_title":"LISTEN TO THIS STORY:","audio":256636,"apple_link":"","spotify_link":"","google_link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"callout_comp","callout_title":"","callout_copy":"In the \u201cThis paper changed my life<\/a>\u201d series, neuroscientists respond to a set of questions to reflect on a paper that profoundly influenced their career and how they think about their research.<\/em>","callout_color":"red"},{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"Answers have been edited for length and clarity.<\/span><\/i>\r\n\r\nWhat paper changed your life?<\/b>\r\n\r\nHabenular alpha-5 nicotinic receptor subunit signalling controls nicotine intake<\/span><\/a>. Fowler C.D., Lu Q., Johnson P.M., Marks M.J., Kenny P.J. <\/span>Nature<\/span><\/i> (2011)<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis paper provided one of the clearest demonstrations of how researchers can use genome-wide association studies (GWAS) to pinpoint genetic risk signals and better understand causal neurobiological mechanisms.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nIn 2008, CHRNA5, a gene that encodes the alpha-5 nicotinic receptor subunit, started popping up in a few GWAS that were searching for genes linked to nicotine dependence and smoking. But these studies could only tell us that a particular genetic variant was associated with smoking. They could not tell us whether\u00a0CHRNA5\u00a0was actually causing differences in nicotine intake, or how it might do so in the brain.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThat\u2019s where mice come in. <\/span>Christie Fowler<\/span><\/a> and her colleagues took this human genetic finding and asked a much more fundamental question: What happens if you remove\u00a0the mouse homolog of\u00a0CHRNA5? They found that mice lacking the alpha-5 nicotinic receptor subunit consumed dramatically more nicotine and, unlike normal mice, failed to titrate their intake as the available nicotine dose increased.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThey then went even further, showing that restoring\u00a0CHRNA5\u00a0specifically in the medial habenula could rescue the phenotype and identifying the habenulo-interpeduncular pathway as the circuit that generates an aversive signal to limit nicotine consumption. By restoring gene expression in this specific circuit, they were able to rescue the phenotype\u2014to stop animals from self-administering nicotine ad infinitum\u2014establishing a direct gene-to-circuit-to-behavior link.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis work was transformative for addiction neuroscience because it moved beyond correlation and identified a concrete mechanism through which genetic risk influences drug-taking behavior. More broadly, it set a standard for how to functionally validate GWAS findings in neuroscience.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhen did you first encounter this paper? What were you working on at the time?<\/b>\r\n\r\nI first read this paper as a Ph.D. student when it was published in 2011\u2014and presented it to my lab in a journal club. At the time, I was studying the effects of nicotine on metabolism in the brain and thinking about how pharmacological processes influence addiction-related behaviors. I was also trying to understand how individual differences in vulnerability emerge. This paper provided a completely different approach than what I had been exposed to. Rather than starting with the effects of nicotine on the brain and resulting behavior, Fowler and her colleagues started with a human genetic association and worked in the opposite direction, from a genetic variant to a specific gene, then to a brain circuit, and, ultimately, to behavior. That idea of connecting human genetic variation to a causal neurobiological mechanism was completely new to me, and it fundamentally changed how I think about approaching questions in addiction neuroscience to this day.<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='']This study showed what it looks like when you find that signal and use it to uncover a biological truth. It made the idea of genetic risk concrete by linking it to a specific receptor, circuit and behavioral outcome.<\/span>[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\nWhy is this paper meaningful to you?<\/b>\r\n\r\nThis paper captured something that felt almost impossible at the time. GWAS produce many signals, and finding one that is biologically meaningful can feel like searching for a needle in a haystack. This study showed what it looks like when you find that signal and use it to uncover a biological truth. It made the idea of genetic risk concrete by linking it to a specific receptor, circuit and behavioral outcome.<\/span>\r\n\r\nHow did this research change how you think about neuroscience and influence your scientific trajectory?<\/b>\r\n\r\nThis research fundamentally changed how I think about bridging levels of analysis in neuroscience. It showed that it is possible to connect genes to circuits to behavior in a rigorous and causal way. When I first read it, I remember thinking that I wanted to do the same kind of work someday. That idea has directly influenced my lab\u2019s approach, especially in our efforts to take GWAS hits related to cannabis use, such as CADM2<\/span>,<\/span><\/i> and identify their <\/span>underlying neurobiological mechanisms<\/span><\/a>. In many ways, this paper helped define the kind of science I currently pursue as an independent investigator.<\/span>\r\n\r\nIs there an underappreciated aspect of this paper you think other neuroscientists should know about?<\/b>\r\n\r\nOne underappreciated aspect is how forward-thinking the study was. For a long time, I thought that the authors initiated this study based on the initial GWAS findings (between 2008 and 2010). I later learned that much of the experimental work had already been completed when the key human genetic associations emerged. I found this out in 2023, when I had dinner with <\/span>Paul Kenny<\/span><\/a> and Christie Fowler after Paul gave the plenary lecture at the Society for Research on Nicotine and Tobacco meeting.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThey told me that their work on alpha-5 nicotinic receptors and the habenulo-interpeduncular pathway had already been underway, based on their understanding of the basic biology of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors and the availability of transgenic animals in which they could manipulate the alpha-5 receptor subunit. In other words, they were not simply starting with a GWAS hit and designing an experiment to test it. Rather, they had developed the experimental systems and biological understanding that allowed them to recognize the significance of the GWAS findings when they emerged.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis paper also highlights that successful interpretation of GWAS findings often depends on having the right experimental systems in place, in this case transgenic animals, targeted manipulation of gene expression and a strong understanding of the underlying nicotinic acetylcholine receptor biology and the habenulo-interpeduncular circuit.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhat new progress has been made since this paper was published?<\/b>\r\n\r\nSince this study, there has been a growing emphasis on functionally validating GWAS hits across neuroscience. Advances in genetic tools, circuit manipulation and multi-omics approaches have made it more feasible to move from association to mechanism.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nAt the same time, the number of GWAS findings has increased dramatically, making it even more important to identify which signals are biologically meaningful. Despite this progress, relatively few studies achieve the same level of mechanistic clarity. This is why the paper remains influential and continues to inspire efforts, including in my own lab, to translate genetic findings into actionable neurobiology.<\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256284","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/73"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=256284"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256284\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256640,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256284\/revisions\/256640"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/255674"},{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/238774"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"post_tag","href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/593"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/256288"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256284"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256284"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256284"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":256203,"date":"2026-09-15T00:00:52","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T04:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=256203"},"modified":"2026-09-15T11:12:41","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T15:12:41","slug":"additional-data-suggest-changes-in-diagnostics-underlie-increases-in-autism-diagnoses-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/spectrum\/additional-data-suggest-changes-in-diagnostics-underlie-increases-in-autism-diagnoses-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Additional data suggest changes in diagnostics underlie increases in autism diagnoses, and more"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 14 September.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":256205,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[152],"tags":[17,207,197,196],"class_list":["post-256203","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-autism","tag-science-and-society","tag-spectrum","tag-spotted"],"acf":{"primary_tag":197,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/FVBD5123","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"alt_image","hero_alt_image":"","hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"full","hero_caption":"","hero_by":"","hero_credit":"","hero_bg_color":"none","authors":[107484],"other_authors":"","related_title":"Explore more from The Transmitter<\/em>","related_hide":false,"related_filter":"latest","related_tag":null,"related_category":null,"related_custom":{"articles":null},"related_custom_wwn":{"articles":null},"newsletter":"","banner_content":"","banner_url":"","apple_article_id":"60d3d85b-17dc-4db8-ae63-2b4ce86c53f2","apple_article_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","google_button_text":"","google_btn_bg_color":"","tooltip_text":"","sidebar_related_hide":false,"sidebar_related_title":"related articles","sidebar_related_hide_images":false,"sidebar_related_articles":"","comps":[{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"Loose links:<\/b> Associations between various early-life factors and later-life diagnoses of autism or attention-deficit\/hyperactivity disorder appear to be weakening, according to a new <\/span>study<\/span><\/a>. Children diagnosed with either condition differ from children without these conditions on such factors as birth weight and household income. But an analysis of records from a Danish registry revealed that these differences diminished over the decade studied: 2012 to 2022. The findings suggest that the increase in autism and ADHD prevalence reflect changes in diagnostic practices and specialized health services.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAutism research spotted this week:<\/b>\r\n