[{"id":254135,"date":"2026-08-18T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T04:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=254135"},"modified":"2026-08-19T11:45:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T15:45:19","slug":"the-fun-and-flexibility-of-data-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/frameshift\/the-fun-and-flexibility-of-data-science\/","title":{"rendered":"The fun and flexibility of data science"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Taylor Bolt spent his Ph.D. and postdoc digging through brain imaging data for clues to cognition. In industry, the datasets are different but the joy of answering questions with data remains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":254138,"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":[995],"tags":[170,940,1091],"class_list":["post-254135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-qa","tag-craft-and-careers","tag-early-career-researchers","tag-frameshift"],"acf":{"primary_tag":1091,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/BNLE2602","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"feat_image","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"Data diver:<\/strong> In his current role, Taylor Bolt uses his research experience to help companies and government agencies formalize their questions and make evidence-based decisions to solve them.","hero_by":"Illustration by Michela Buttignol","hero_credit":"","hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[107552],"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":"db13f92b-799b-4558-8d5f-20be658875dd","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":"callout_comp","callout_title":"","callout_copy":"In Frameshift<\/a>, neuroscientists with careers outside the lab discuss their work and how they made the transition.","callout_color":"red"},{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"Taylor Bolt loved the challenge of mining terabytes of brain imaging data for clues to cognition. As an industry data scientist, he uses his research chops to help companies and government agencies make evidence-based decisions.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.<\/span><\/i>\r\n\r\nThe Transmitter:<\/b> What does an industry data scientist do?\u00a0<\/strong>\r\n\r\nTaylor Bolt:<\/b> I\u2019m currently in a government contracting role with <\/span>CPMC<\/span><\/a>, a consulting firm, where I work with federal scientists on data mining and analysis of large-scale government datasets. Before that, I worked in human resources for Deloitte, where my research involved understanding and improving the experience of employees. For example, we had a major problem with turnover during the pandemic, and we wanted to understand what was contributing to turnover so we could predict it and potentially intervene with different kinds of incentives when we really wanted people to stay.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThere are data science positions across every single industry, but the common denominator is you\u2019re working with lots of data collected by the company or agency you work for or a third party and extracting insights from that data. Ultimately, you\u2019re making some kind of recommendation based on those insights.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nTT: What led you to an industry data scientist position?<\/b>\r\n\r\nTB:<\/b> I'll be honest, I kind of stumbled into data science. My Ph.D. advisor, <\/span>Lucina Uddin<\/span><\/a>, was good at making sure her trainees knew what was out there beyond academia. I was a neuroimaging scientist, which has a heavy computational focus. I was pretty good at data analysis, and I really loved programming, so data science felt like something I could do.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nAbout six months into my postdoc, I started shooting out applications for entry-level data science roles and was fortunate enough to land an interview at Gallup for a job as a computational social scientist. I got the opportunity and was there with a bunch of other Ph.D.s who were fresh out of their programs. We did a lot of research trying to help companies engage with their employees through surveys. We also worked on R&D contracts with some government agencies.<\/span>\r\n\r\nTT: What made you leave academia for industry?<\/b>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='Taylor Bolt<\/span>']I think it\u2019s becoming more accepted that the academia-industry connection isn\u2019t one-way; it\u2019s a revolving door.<\/span>[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\nTB:<\/b> I did a Ph.D. because I was dead set on being an academic. But I had other desires, too, like settling down with a family. And at a certain point during my postdoc, the desire for a more stable career path and the ability to live where I want to live became more important to me. My wife and I were in Atlanta and ready to settle down. If I wanted to go for a tenure-track position, I would probably have had to move and maybe take another postdoc first.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhen I was looking for a role in industry, I wanted something where I could focus purely on research and data analysis. Data science fit the bill, so I tailored my resume and just started shooting it to all kinds of places. I focused on experiences and skills in academia that would be attractive to potential employers, like programming, statistics and large-scale data mining and engineering. I also highlighted my ability to work independently and see a project through to completion. This was in 2018. I think the landscape has changed and even entry-level jobs are harder to get now, but I think a Ph.D. gives you a leg up. It's not necessarily required, and you'll meet people in data science with backgrounds in software engineering and other disciplines. But I can\u2019t imagine being as effective as I am in my role without the Ph.D.<\/span>\r\n\r\nTT: How does a Ph.D. give you a leg up in data science?<\/b>\r\n\r\nTB: <\/b>Most companies will not be able to formulate the problems they have in a manner easily translated into a data analysis. For example, the question \"How can we reduce turnover?\" is ambiguous and messy. You could go down many roads with that question, but it's your job as a data scientist to direct the company towards research projects that are feasible and rigorous. You might propose a statistical analysis of internal human resources data that would help identify key predictors of attrition, the idea being that if you could predict when an employee might leave, you could offer them a retention bonus. You need to formalize a company\u2019s questions and make them more concrete, then use available data to deliver practical insights, then communicate those insights to different people. These are things you do all the time as a Ph.D. You learn to be an independent contributor who can take a project from start to finish.<\/span>\r\n\r\nTT: Do you miss academia?<\/b>\r\n\r\nTB:<\/b> I never fell out of love with research, but I didn\u2019t love some of the other things principal investigators have on their plates. Like, it was hard for me to write grants, and that\u2019s a major part of your job as a PI. My dream would have been to stay a postdoc for the rest of my life. There was a level of freedom to pursue what I thought was interesting, and if I wanted to pivot, it didn't require much buy-in from my supervisor. In industry, you can tell leadership, \u201cListen, I don't think this is the route we should be taking. I think we need to pivot.\u201d But it does require more buy-in.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe great thing is, I didn\u2019t leave academia for long. After about two years out of academia, I approached my Ph.D. advisor and said, \u201cI\u2019ve got some ideas. Would you mind if I started doing some research part time? You don't have to pay me; I just want your resources.\u201d So I basically moonlighted as a scientist. I wrote some papers, and we got them published. Eventually it became a little more formalized and I am paid now for about 5 to 10 hours a week. I even went to the annual meeting of the <\/span>Organization for Human Brain Mapping<\/span><\/a> last year in Australia. I would say most industry teams are very supportive of maintaining that academic connection, even if it\u2019s outside of your industry field. I think it\u2019s becoming more accepted that the academia-industry connection isn\u2019t one-way; it\u2019s a revolving door.<\/span>\r\n\r\nTT: What\u2019s your advice for trainees who are interested in industry jobs in data science?<\/b>\r\n\r\nTB: <\/b>First, be proud of what you\u2019ve already accomplished. Doing a Ph.D. takes a lot of hard work. If you\u2019re early in your Ph.D., you can consider training opportunities that make you more competitive for data science positions, particularly in the realm of technical skills like Python and data analysis. But it's never too late to make a pivot. Talk to people who have moved from academia to industry so you can learn more about their roles. You\u2019ll also build connections and a network to leverage. This is more important today than it was when I pivoted in 2018, because even entry-level data science roles get about 400 to 500 applicants, particularly for roles that are remote. But you have a leg up because you have a Ph.D. and it's a pretty exclusive club of folks who have made that transition. Internships are great, too, if you're willing to work for lower pay for a year or two. But if you have that Ph.D., you're in a great position. You'll break in, and once you break in, it becomes much easier.<\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254135","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=254135"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254135\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254350,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254135\/revisions\/254350"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/107552"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"post_tag","href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/1091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":253492,"date":"2026-08-17T00:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T04:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=253492"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:20:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:20:36","slug":"mind-over-metrics-how-can-we-tell-if-two-brains-or-ai-models-are-alike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/neural-dynamics\/mind-over-metrics-how-can-we-tell-if-two-brains-or-ai-models-are-alike\/","title":{"rendered":"Mind over metrics: How can we tell if two brains (or AI models) are alike?"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ability to record from large populations of neurons has triggered the development of myriad methods for comparing them. But we\u2019re still grappling with how to convert measures of likeness into a better mechanistic understanding.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":253495,"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":[27,143,148,309,167],"class_list":["post-253492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspectives","tag-audio-research-news","tag-computational-neuroscience","tag-methods","tag-neural-dynamics","tag-systems-neuroscience"],"acf":{"primary_tag":309,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/TIDM2281","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"feat_image","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"Measuring metrics<\/strong>: The computational literature is littered with competing methods quantifying similarity in neural population codes.","hero_by":"Illustration by Scott Balmer","hero_credit":"","hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[252549],"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":"9e4c78d5-da3c-4076-9b9e-041f2bb162c3","apple_article_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAg==","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":254792,"apple_link":"","spotify_link":"","google_link":""},{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"Biologists have come up with many creative strategies to understand how organisms function. <\/span>Comparative analysis<\/span> is among the most fundamental. Indeed, Darwin solidified his theory of evolution by comparing diverse species and arguing that their differences reflect adaptive modification over time. Today, this reasoning is so central to our thinking that entire fields of study are built on the principle of comparison.<\/span>\r\n\r\nComparative analysis is not mere stamp collecting\u2014it helps biologists build mechanistic understanding. For example, scientists in the 1960s found a tight correlation between the thickness of the renal medulla (the kidney\u2019s inner region) and a species\u2019 ability to produce concentrated urine. These comparisons, particularly <\/span>across desert and non<\/span>\u2011<\/span>desert mammals<\/span><\/a>, were a key clue that confirmed and refined the countercurrent multiplication mechanism that underlies our modern understanding of kidney function.<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhat can we, as neuroscientists, learn from such examples? In many ways, comparative analysis already deeply affects our work. As a field, we lean heavily on neuroanatomical atlases that identify homologous brain structures across diverse species. And, much as in the kidney example cited above, we can even draw some correlations. For example, the size of the hippocampus <\/span>correlates with the spatial navigation ability of a species<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nToday, there is a rapidly growing appetite for new forms of comparative analysis between large populations of co-recorded neurons. For example, if we record from the same brain region across two animals, how can we tell whether the neural responses are the same, or different? Though such comparisons have long been possible in small invertebrate circuits, efforts in mammalian cortical systems have historically faced major technical hurdles\u2014most notably, one could not record enough neurons in individual animals to garner the statistical power required to draw proper comparisons. The field is increasingly overcoming these obstacles as recording technologies become cheaper, miniaturized and standardized.<\/span>\r\n\r\nFurthermore, the arrival of modern artificial intelligence adds a whole new set of systems to the mix. These in silico models bear some rough resemblance to biological systems, such as the distributed nature of their computation across large ensembles of simple units. But these points of similarity are far outnumbered by differences, such as spike-based versus analog modes of communication. This naturally raises the question of whether biological and artificial networks follow similar algorithmic or computational principles in spite of their implementation-level differences. Accordingly, we have seen high-profile efforts to compare the two, such as the <\/span>Brain-Score<\/span><\/a> benchmark and the <\/span>Algonauts Project<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nIn short, we now have the technical prowess to record from many different mammalian cortical systems and to manufacture, observe and manipulate powerful in silico analogues. But we are still grappling with how to link these diverse datasets together through the principle of comparison. We are still searching for answers to deeper questions, such as: What does it mean for two neural systems to be <\/span>alike<\/span><\/i>, and how can we rigorously quantify this <\/span>likeness<\/span><\/i>? Furthermore, how do we convert measures of <\/span>likeness<\/span><\/i> into better mechanistic understanding?<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_text class='']I[\/tt_text]\u00a0acknowledge that it is difficult to come up with singular and precise answers to these questions, but we should make a concerted effort to converge on a set of core principles.\r\n\r\nIndeed, the computational literature is now hopelessly replete with competing methods that quantify some form of similarity in neural population codes. One cluster of methods frames the problem through the lens of geometry, asking whether two systems arrange their responses in the same shape. This includes the framework of <\/span>representational similarity analysis (RSA)<\/span><\/a>, as well as linear <\/span>centered kernel alignment (CKA)<\/span><\/a>, which has become the de facto standard in the machine-learning research community. Others favor prediction, gauging similarity by how well the activity of one system can be used to predict that of the other. This perspective is prevalent in initiatives, such as Brain-Score, that use regularized linear regression performance as a metric of similarity. Some approaches, such as Procrustes shape distance, combine elements of both geometric similarity and prediction.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe summary above is highly incomplete\u2014a <\/span>recent review of the literature<\/span><\/a> documented well over 30 methods in use. This proliferation of approaches gives us a deep well to draw from, but it also represents a serious concern. Many neuroscience practitioners\u2014even those with computational and mathematical backgrounds\u2014simply do not have the time to sift through this complex literature and understand its nuances. A skeptic may even feel that we are overcomplicating the problem.<\/span>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image_comp","aspect_ratio":"inline","title":"","image":253499,"link":"","image_caption":"Comparative measures:<\/strong> Metrics can help compare population activity among animals, brain regions and trials (a, b and c). Plotting activity in N<\/em>-dimensional space (d) enables comparison of geometric shapes (e) and development of metric spaces (g).","image_byline":{"by":"Barbosa et al<\/em>. bioRxiv, 2025.","credit":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"Earlier this spring, I led a <\/span>tutorial at COSYNE<\/span><\/a> meant to make this landscape more approachable. Preparing it forced me to step back and look at the big picture. Four points have stuck with me since.<\/span>\r\n\r\nFirst, many popular similarity measures are closely related\u2014more so than most people realize. In some cases, they are even essentially identical. RSA and CKA, for instance, are routinely treated as separate tools, yet they<\/span> are<\/span> formally equivalent once RSA is modified to include a mean-centering step<\/span><\/a>. This is just one example of a broader pattern. Dig just a little bit below the surface, and a surprising number of approaches collapse onto a few underlying objects. Understanding this is extremely helpful when mentally navigating the literature.<\/span>\r\n\r\nSecond, it is important not to conflate the predictive accuracy of a model with its similarity to the brain. Predictivity scores are asymmetric: Neural activity in an artificial network may be highly predictive of biological recordings, <\/span>but not vice versa<\/span><\/a>. Geometric measures such as RSA, CKA and Procrustes, in contrast, are symmetric. Neither framing is wrong, but they answer different questions. A high regression score says that one system carries the information needed to reconstruct the other; a high geometric score says that two systems organize that information the same way. Conflating the two invites confusion.<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='']It is important not to conflate the predictive accuracy of a model with its similarity to the brain.<\/span>[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\nThird, the most versatile measures are not merely scores but <\/span>proper <\/span>metrics<\/span><\/i><\/a>\u2014i.e. distances that are symmetric and obey the triangle inequality, meaning that two systems can't appear close to a third yet far apart from each other. Such metrics can be inspired by both geometric and predictive approaches. The distinction between similarity measures and proper metrics sounds pedantic, but it is the difference between a number and a map: When a measure is a true metric, the whole collection of systems becomes a space that we can navigate in a coherent fashion. We can embed brain regions and networks into a common space, cluster them and hand them to other standard machine-learning tools.<\/span>\r\n\r\nFinally, brains are complex organs\u2014I think it is too much to ask for a single metric to quantify similarity across experiments or between a model and a biological recording. Neuroscientists should report multiple metrics to capture complementary aspects of neural computation. This requires digging into the mathematical details and assumptions of each method, which is hard work, but those who do the work will be rewarded.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis last point is perhaps the most important, but also the most challenging. It cuts against two habits the field has grown comfortable with: ranking models on a single leaderboard, and minting new metrics that are technically novel but only marginally different from the ones we already have. Both of these perspectives venerate the scores themselves over scientific understanding. In comparative analyses of the kidney, medullary thickness mattered only because it pointed toward countercurrent multiplication. Likewise, neural similarity scores matter only insofar as they point us toward computational mechanisms.<\/span>\r\n\r\nDespite these challenges, I think we stand to benefit enormously from engaging with these questions. I hope that we continue to refine and unify our understanding of existing similarity metrics, while also developing new metrics that capture genuinely new aspects of neural computation that are currently overlooked.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAlex Williams has an appointment at the Flatiron Institute, which is part of the Simons Foundation, The Transmitter's parent organization.<\/i>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"callout_comp","callout_title":"AI use disclosure:","callout_copy":"The author conceptualized and drafted the piece and consulted Anthropic's Claude for editorial suggestions before submission.","callout_color":"red"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253492","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\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253492"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254880,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253492\/revisions\/254880"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/252549"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"post_tag","href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":253547,"date":"2026-08-14T22:49:15","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T02:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=253547"},"modified":"2026-09-01T11:38:58","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:38:58","slug":"a-technical-breakthrough-for-memory-studies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/the-state-of-neuroscience-in-latin-america\/a-technical-breakthrough-for-memory-studies\/","title":{"rendered":"This paper changed my life: A technical breakthrough for memory studies"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a 2007 Science<\/em> paper, Mark Mayford and his colleagues found that some neurons activated during learning are also recruited during memory retrieval. Noelia Weisstaub shares how this study and others drove an era of great progress in tool development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":253549,"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":[27,728,225,993,92,1209,593],"class_list":["post-253547","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspectives","tag-audio-research-news","tag-fear","tag-memory","tag-psychedelics","tag-serotonin","tag-the-state-of-neuroscience-in-latin-america","tag-this-paper-changed-my-life"],"acf":{"primary_tag":1209,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/QTBZ2522","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"feat_image","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"Terrific tool:<\/strong> The TetTag mouse line made it possible to label neuronal activity during a specific time window.","hero_by":"Illustration by","hero_credit":238774,"hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[253555],"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":"

THIS ARTICLE IS PART OF OUR STATE OF NEUROSCIENCE IN LATIN AMERICA REPORT.<\/p>","banner_url":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/state-of-neuroscience-latin-america\/","apple_article_id":"1eb3a5dc-8d17-44e2-9532-9b7223eb4e30","apple_article_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABg==","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":254796,"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":"Lea este art\u00edculo en espanol.<\/a><\/span>\r\n

Leia este artigo em portugu\u00eas<\/a>.<\/p>\r\nAnswers have been edited for length and clarity.<\/span><\/i>\r\n\r\n<\/b>What paper changed your life<\/b>?<\/span>\r\n\r\nLocalization of a <\/span>s<\/span>table <\/span>n<\/span>eural <\/span>c<\/span>orrelate of <\/span>a<\/span>ssociative <\/span>m<\/span>emory.<\/span><\/a> Reijmers L.G., Perkins B.L., Matsuo N. and Mayford M. <\/span>Science <\/span><\/i>(2007)<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis paper addressed a key question that the field had been trying to address since the late 20<\/span>th<\/span> century: Are neurons that are active during learning the same ones that get activated during memory retrieval? <\/span>Mark Mayford<\/span><\/a>\u2019s group found that a subset of basolateral and lateral amygdala neurons that were active when mice underwent fear conditioning were also active when animals recalled that fear memory.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nAlthough this finding was important, I think the paper\u2019s most significant impact was in tool development. <\/span>The authors developed the TetTag mouse, a transgenic mouse line that made it possible to tag neurons that are active during a specific time window. Neurons are tagged when the mice are fed <\/span>doxycycline.<\/span> The researchers conducted the fear-learning experiments during this feeding period, labeling active neurons, and then they performed memory retrieval experiments after they stopped feeding the mice doxycycline. T<\/span>hey could then evaluate if the same neurons were active again during retrieval.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nIt might seem like a common tool now, but before we had these models, the field could only study this question in very indirect ways, such as by pharmacologically blocking entire neuronal populations during memory retrieval. This paper was the first evidence for me that we had the tools to track neurons involved in memory consolidation and retrieval in a way that was cell-specific.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='']The whole field knew that to make the next big leaps in neuroscience, we needed these tools, and everyone was working towards this.[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\nWhen did you first encounter this paper? What were you working on at the time?<\/b>\r\n\r\nWhen this paper came out, I was finishing my Ph.D. in <\/span>Ren<\/span>\u00e9<\/span> Hen<\/span><\/a>\u2019s and <\/span>Jay Gingrich<\/span><\/a>\u2019s labs at Columbia University. I was studying the role of serotonin 2A receptors in <\/span>mood regulation<\/span><\/a> and the mechanism of action of <\/span>psychedelic drugs<\/span><\/a> in the prefrontal cortex. I was not working in memory at that time, but I was still following the area\u2014not only because it is always an interesting topic, but also because I was thinking about the role of serotonin modulation in memory as a potential area of interest to pursue after my Ph.D.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nWhy is this paper meaningful to you?<\/b>\r\n\r\nThis paper served as a type of bridge to take me from studying the role of serotonin modulation in the context of emotion to studying it in memory.<\/span>\r\n\r\nI had always thought that if the prefrontal cortex had so much serotonergic innervation, its modulation must be playing a role in cognitive functions, such as memory. After completing a postdoc in Gingrich\u2019s lab, I returned to Argentina and joined the lab of <\/span>Jorge Medina<\/span><\/a> at the Universidad de Buenos Aires to pursue that line of work. At the time, Medina\u2019s lab was working on memory consolidation and disambiguation. The transition to this type of research came naturally for me, and it was sparked\u2014in part\u2014by me reading this paper.<\/span>\r\n\r\nHow did this research change how you think about neuroscience and influence your scientific trajectory?<\/b>\r\n\r\nI think that this and other great tool-development papers at the time opened an era of significant progress within neuroscience. Many labs were working on developing tools to manipulate and visualize brain regions in ways that were not possible before.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nFor instance, <\/span>Karl Deisseroth<\/span><\/a> and his group developed optogenetics around the same time, which works in a similar manner by using selective genetic promoters to drive and manipulate neuronal activity. The genetic tools being developed in different labs shows that this type of thinking was in the air. The whole field knew that to make the next big leaps in neuroscience, we needed these tools, and everyone was working toward this.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe tools developed in this era of neuroscience made it possible for us to get at big, challenging questions: Where are memories stored? How many neurons do you need? How big is that memory network? How many neurons do you need to actually trigger a memory?<\/span>\r\n\r\nIs there an underappreciated aspect of this paper you think other neuroscientists should know about?<\/b>\r\n\r\nThe paper made a huge impact on the community when it came out. I think that the beauty of this work was that they brought together a lot of other genetic tools and knowledge that already existed to create something new.<\/span>\r\n\r\nTheir findings allowed the field to speak with more certainty about this idea that memories recruit neurons that are active during learning\u2014even though you don\u2019t need to activate all of the same neurons. This is one of those findings that validated something that a lot of other labs had found indirect evidence of, but nobody at the time had been able to fully solve. It\u2019s a paper that\u2019s kind of a gold standard because it made a bold finding and provided tools for researchers to ask similar questions in other lines of research.<\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253547","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\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253547"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253547\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255627,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253547\/revisions\/255627"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/253555"},{"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\/1209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253547"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253547"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253547"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":254002,"date":"2026-08-14T00:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T04:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=254002"},"modified":"2026-09-01T11:39:02","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:39:02","slug":"este-articulo-cambio-mi-vida-un-descubrimiento-tecnico-para-estudios-de-la-memoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/the-state-of-neuroscience-in-latin-america\/este-articulo-cambio-mi-vida-un-descubrimiento-tecnico-para-estudios-de-la-memoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Este art\u00edculo cambi\u00f3 mi vida: Un descubrimiento t\u00e9cnico para estudios de la memoria"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

En un art\u00edculo de Science<\/em> del 2007, Mark Mayford y sus compa\u00f1eros encontraron neuronas activadas durante el aprendizaje son reclutadas durante la recuperaci\u00f3n de la memoria. Noela Weisstaub comparte como este estudio y otros impulsaron una era de gran progreso en el desarrollo de herramientas<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":253549,"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":[1201,728,225,993,92,1209,593],"class_list":["post-254002","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspectives","tag-espanol","tag-fear","tag-memory","tag-psychedelics","tag-serotonin","tag-the-state-of-neuroscience-in-latin-america","tag-this-paper-changed-my-life"],"acf":{"primary_tag":1209,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/IIEY6058","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"feat_image","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"Una herramienta extraordinaria:<\/strong> La l\u00ednea de ratones TetTag permiti\u00f3 marcar la actividad neuronal durante un intervalo de tiempo espec\u00edfico.","hero_by":"Illustration by","hero_credit":238774,"hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[253555],"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":"ESTE ART\u00cdCULO FORMA PARTE DE NUESTRO INFORME SOBRE EL ESTADO DE LA NEUROCIENCIA EN AM\u00c9RICA LATINA.","banner_url":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/el-panorama-de-la-neurociencia-en-latinoamerica","apple_article_id":"c418624c-7310-4da4-82ea-b5089c878c8f","apple_article_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAw==","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":"","callout_copy":"En \u201cThis paper changed my life<\/a>\u201d, neurocient\u00edficos responden a una serie de preguntas para reflexionar sobre un estudio que influy\u00f3 su carrera y c\u00f3mo piensan sobre su investigaci\u00f3n.<\/em>","callout_color":"red"},{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"Claudia L\u00f3pez Lloreda<\/a> tradujo este art\u00edculo.<\/em>\r\n\r\nRead this article in English<\/a>.<\/b>\r\n

Leia este artigo em portugu\u00eas<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n\u00bfQu\u00e9 art\u00edculo cambi\u00f3 tu vida?<\/strong>\r\n\r\nLocalization of a stable neural correlate of associative memory<\/a>. Reijmers L.G., Perkins B.L., Matsuo N. and Mayford M. Science<\/em> (2007)<\/span>\r\n\r\nEste estudio abarc\u00f3 una pregunta clave que el campo hab\u00eda estado tratando de contestar desde finales del siglo XX: \u00bflas neuronas que est\u00e1n activas durante el aprendizaje son las mismas que se activan durante la recuperaci\u00f3n de la memoria? El grupo de <\/span>Mark Mayford<\/span><\/a> encontr\u00f3 que un subconjunto de neuronas en la am\u00edgdala basolateral y lateral que se activaron cuando ratones pasaron por condicionamiento de miedo tambi\u00e9n estaban activas cuando los animales recordaron esa memoria.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAunque el descubrimiento fue importante, creo que el impacto m\u00e1s significativo del estudio fue en el desarrollo de herramientas. Los autores desarrollaron el rat\u00f3n TetTag, una l\u00ednea de ratones transg\u00e9nicos que permiti\u00f3 marcar las neuronas activas durante una ventana de tiempo espec\u00edfica. Las neuronas son marcadas cuando los ratones les dan de comer doxiciclina. Los investigadores llevaron a cabo experimentos de aprendizaje de miedo condicionado durante este periodo de alimentaci\u00f3n, marcando las neuronas activas y luego llevaron a cabo los experimentos de recuperaci\u00f3n de memorias cuando dejaron de alimentar a los ratones con doxiciclina. Entonces pod\u00edan evaluar si las mismas neuronas est\u00e1n activas durante la recuperaci\u00f3n.<\/span>\r\n\r\nPuede parecer una herramienta com\u00fan ahora, pero antes de tener estos modelos, el campo solo pod\u00eda estudiar esta pregunta en maneras indirectas, como por ejemplo\u00a0<\/b>inhibiendo farmacol\u00f3gicamente poblaciones neuronales completas durante la recuperaci\u00f3n de memoria. Este estudio fue la primera evidencia para m\u00ed de que ten\u00edamos las herramientas para monitorear neuronas involucradas en la consolidaci\u00f3n y recuperaci\u00f3n de memoria en una manera que fue espec\u00edfica a las c\u00e9lulas.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00bfCu\u00e1ndo aprendiste sobre este estudio por primera vez? \u00bfEn qu\u00e9 trabajabas al momento?<\/b>\r\n\r\nCuando este estudio sali\u00f3, yo estaba terminando mi doctorado en los laboratorios de <\/span>Ren\u00e9 Hen<\/span><\/a> y <\/span>Jay Gringich<\/span><\/a> en Columbia University. Estaba estudiando el rol de los receptores de serotonina 2A en la <\/span>regulaci\u00f3n de los estados emocionales<\/span><\/a> y el mecanismo de acci\u00f3n de <\/span>drogas psicod\u00e9licas<\/span><\/a> en la corteza prefrontal. No estaba trabajando en memoria en ese momento, pero como quiera segu\u00eda el \u00e1rea, no solo porque siempre es un tema interesante, sino porque estaba pensando sobre el rol de la modulaci\u00f3n de serotonina en la memoria como una posible \u00e1rea de inter\u00e9s a explorar tras mi doctorado.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='']El campo entero sab\u00eda que para hacer los pr\u00f3ximos saltos en la neurociencia necesit\u00e1bamos estas herramientas y todos estaban trabajando hacia ello.[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\n\u00bfPor qu\u00e9 es significativo para ti este estudio?<\/b>\r\n\r\nEste estudio sirvi\u00f3 como un tipo de puente para llevarme de estudiar el rol de la modulaci\u00f3n de serotonina en el contexto de emoci\u00f3n a estudiarlo en la memoria.<\/span>\r\n\r\nSiempre hab\u00eda pensado que si la corteza prefrontal ten\u00eda tanta inervaci\u00f3n serotonin\u00e9rgica, su modulaci\u00f3n deber\u00eda estar jugando un rol en funciones cognitivas como la memoria. Luego de completar un posdoctorado en el laboratorio de Gingrich, volv\u00ed a Argentina y me un\u00ed al laboratorio de Jorge Medina en la Universidad de Buenos Aires para perseguir esa l\u00ednea de trabajo. En ese momento, el laboratorio de Medina estaba trabajando en consolidaci\u00f3n de memoria y desambiguacion. La transici\u00f3n a este tipo de investigaci\u00f3n me vino naturalmente y fue\u2014en parte\u2014por haber le\u00eddo este estudio.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00bfC\u00f3mo esta investigaci\u00f3n cambi\u00f3 tu forma de pensar sobre la neurociencia e influy\u00f3 en tu trayectoria cient\u00edfica?<\/b>\r\n\r\nYo creo que este y otros estudios de desarrollo de herramientas de ese momento abrieron una era de progreso significativo dentro de la neurociencia. Muchos laboratorios estaban trabajando en desarrollar herramientas para manipular y visualizar regiones del cerebro en maneras que antes no era posible.<\/span>\r\n\r\nPor ejemplo, <\/span>Karl Deisseroth<\/span><\/a> y su grupo desarrollaron optogen\u00e9tica alrededor del mismo tiempo, el cual trabaja en una manera similar usando promotores gen\u00e9ticos selectivos para controlar y manipular la actividad neuronal. Las herramientas gen\u00e9ticas desarroll\u00e1ndose en diferentes laboratorios demuestra que este tipo de pensamiento estaba en el aire. El campo entero sab\u00eda que para hacer los pr\u00f3ximos saltos en la neurociencia necesit\u00e1bamos estas herramientas y todos estaban trabajando hacia ello.<\/span>\r\n\r\nLas herramientas desarrolladas en esta era de neurociencia nos permiti\u00f3 enfrentar preguntas restantes: \u00bfDonde est\u00e1n las memorias guardadas? \u00bfCu\u00e1ntas neuronas necesita? \u00bfCu\u00e1n grande es la red de memorias? \u00bfCu\u00e1ntas neuronas en realidad necesitas para desencadenar una memoria?<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00bfHay alg\u00fan aspecto menospreciado de este estudio que otros neurocient\u00edficos deber\u00edan conocer?<\/b>\r\n\r\nEste estudio tuvo un gran impacto en la comunidad cuando se public\u00f3. Creo que la belleza de este trabajo es que reuni\u00f3 muchas otras herramientas y conocimiento que ya exist\u00edan para crear algo nuevo.<\/span>\r\n\r\nSus descubrimientos permitieron al campo a hablar con m\u00e1s seguridad sobre la idea de que las memorias reclutan neuronas que est\u00e1n activas durante el aprendizaje aunque no tienes que activar todas las mismas neuronas. Este es uno de esos descubrimientos que validan algo para el que muchos otros laboratorios hab\u00edan encontrado evidencia indirecta, pero que nadie hab\u00eda podido demostrar de manera directa. Es un art\u00edculo que tiene ese broche de oro para toda un \u00e1rea porque entrega las herramientas para que investigadores hicieran preguntas similares en otras l\u00edneas de investigaci\u00f3n.<\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254002","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\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254002"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254002\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255628,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254002\/revisions\/255628"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/253555"},{"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\/1209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254002"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254002"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254002"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":254352,"date":"2026-08-14T00:00:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T04:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=254352"},"modified":"2026-09-01T11:41:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T15:41:46","slug":"este-artigo-mudou-minha-vida-um-avanco-tecnico-para-os-estudos-da-memoria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/the-state-of-neuroscience-in-latin-america\/este-artigo-mudou-minha-vida-um-avanco-tecnico-para-os-estudos-da-memoria\/","title":{"rendered":"Este artigo mudou minha vida: um avan\u00e7o t\u00e9cnico para os estudos da mem\u00f3ria"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Em um artigo publicado na revista Science<\/em> em 2007, Mark Mayford e seus colegas descobriram que alguns neur\u00f4nios ativados durante a aprendizagem tamb\u00e9m s\u00e3o reativados durante a recupera\u00e7\u00e3o da mem\u00f3ria. Noelia Weisstaub conta como esse e outros estudos impulsionaram uma era de grande progresso no desenvolvimento de ferramentas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":253549,"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":[728,225,1199,993,92,1209,593],"class_list":["post-254352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-perspectives","tag-fear","tag-memory","tag-portugues","tag-psychedelics","tag-serotonin","tag-the-state-of-neuroscience-in-latin-america","tag-this-paper-changed-my-life"],"acf":{"primary_tag":1209,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/ZJDE9535","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"feat_image","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"Ferramenta excelente:<\/strong> A linhagem de camundongos TetTag possibilitou marcar a atividade neuronal durante um intervalo de tempo espec\u00edfico.","hero_by":"Illustration by","hero_credit":238774,"hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[253555],"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":"ESTE ARTIGO FAZ PARTE DO NOSSO RELAT\u00d3RIO SOBRE O ESTADO DA NEUROCI\u00caNCIA NA AM\u00c9RICA LATINA.","banner_url":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/neurociencia-na-america-latina\/","apple_article_id":"a9ba163d-cd6b-448c-a497-4755ba5a642e","apple_article_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABA==","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":"","callout_copy":"Na s\u00e9rie \u201cThis paper changed my life<\/a>,\u201d neurocientistas respondem a uma s\u00e9rie de perguntas para refletir sobre um artigo que teve uma influ\u00eancia profunda em suas carreiras e na forma como pensam sobre suas pesquisas.<\/em>","callout_color":"red"},{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"Helen Mendes Lima<\/a> traduziu este artigo.<\/em>\r\n

Read this article in English<\/a>.<\/p>\r\n

Lea este art\u00edculo en espanol<\/a>.<\/p>\r\nAs respostas foram editadas para maior concis\u00e3o e clareza.<\/span><\/i>\r\n\r\nQual artigo mudou a sua vida<\/b>?<\/span>\r\n\r\nLocalization of a <\/span>s<\/span>table <\/span>n<\/span>eural <\/span>c<\/span>orrelate of <\/span>a<\/span>ssociative <\/span>m<\/span>emory.<\/span><\/a> Reijmers L.G., Perkins B.L., Matsuo N. and Mayford M. <\/span>Science <\/span><\/i>(2007)<\/span>\r\n\r\nEste artigo abordou uma quest\u00e3o fundamental que o campo vinha tentando resolver desde o final do s\u00e9culo 20:\u00a0 os neur\u00f4nios que est\u00e3o ativos durante a aprendizagem s\u00e3o os mesmos que s\u00e3o ativados durante a recupera\u00e7\u00e3o da mem\u00f3ria? O grupo de <\/span>Mark Mayford<\/span><\/a> descobriu que um subconjunto de neur\u00f4nios da am\u00edgdala basolateral e lateral, que ficavam ativos quando os camundongos passavam por condicionamento de medo, tamb\u00e9m ficava ativo quando os animais relembravam essa mem\u00f3ria de medo.<\/span>\r\n\r\nEmbora essa descoberta tenha sido importante, acredito que o impacto mais significativo do artigo tenha sido no desenvolvimento de ferramentas. Os autores desenvolveram o camundongo TetTag, uma linhagem de camundongos transg\u00eanicos que possibilitou a marca\u00e7\u00e3o de neur\u00f4nios ativos durante um intervalo de tempo espec\u00edfico. Os neur\u00f4nios s\u00e3o marcados quando os camundongos recebem doxiciclina. Os pesquisadores realizaram os experimentos de aprendizagem do medo durante esse per\u00edodo de administra\u00e7\u00e3o, rotulando os neur\u00f4nios ativos, e, em seguida, realizaram experimentos de recupera\u00e7\u00e3o da mem\u00f3ria ap\u00f3s interromperem a administra\u00e7\u00e3o de doxiciclina aos camundongos. Assim, puderam avaliar se os mesmos neur\u00f4nios voltavam a ficar ativos durante a recupera\u00e7\u00e3o.<\/span>\r\n\r\nPode parecer uma ferramenta comum hoje em dia, mas antes de termos esses modelos, o campo s\u00f3 podia estudar essa quest\u00e3o de maneiras muito indiretas, como bloqueando farmacologicamente popula\u00e7\u00f5es inteiras de neur\u00f4nios durante a recupera\u00e7\u00e3o da mem\u00f3ria. Esse artigo foi a primeira evid\u00eancia, para mim, de que t\u00ednhamos as ferramentas para rastrear os neur\u00f4nios envolvidos na consolida\u00e7\u00e3o e na recupera\u00e7\u00e3o da mem\u00f3ria com resolu\u00e7\u00e3o celular.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='']Todo o campo sabia que, para dar os pr\u00f3ximos grandes saltos na neuroci\u00eancia, precis\u00e1vamos dessas ferramentas, e todos estavam trabalhando nesse sentido.<\/span>[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\nQuando voc\u00ea teve contato com esse artigo pela primeira vez? No que voc\u00ea estava trabalhando na \u00e9poca?<\/b>\r\n\r\nQuando esse artigo foi publicado, eu estava concluindo meu doutorado nos laborat\u00f3rios de <\/span>Ren<\/span>\u00e9<\/span> Hen<\/span><\/a> e <\/span>Jay Gingrich<\/span><\/a> na Columbia University. Eu estava estudando o papel dos receptores de serotonina 2A na <\/span>regula\u00e7\u00e3o do humor<\/span><\/a> e os mecanismos de a\u00e7\u00e3o das <\/span>drogas psicod\u00e9licas<\/span><\/a> no c\u00f3rtex pr\u00e9-frontal. Eu n\u00e3o estava trabalhando com mem\u00f3ria naquela \u00e9poca, mas acompanhava a \u00e1rea\u2014n\u00e3o apenas porque \u00e9 sempre um tema interessante, mas tamb\u00e9m porque estava pensando no papel da modula\u00e7\u00e3o da serotonina na mem\u00f3ria como uma poss\u00edvel \u00e1rea de interesse a ser explorada ap\u00f3s meu doutorado.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nPor que este artigo \u00e9 importante para voc\u00ea?<\/b>\r\n\r\nEste artigo serviu como uma ponte entre o meu estudo do papel da modula\u00e7\u00e3o da serotonina no contexto das emo\u00e7\u00f5es para o estudo desse mesmo papel na mem\u00f3ria.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u00a0<\/span>Sempre achei que, se o c\u00f3rtex pr\u00e9-frontal tinha tanta inerva\u00e7\u00e3o seroton\u00e9rgica, sua modula\u00e7\u00e3o deveria estar desempenhando um papel nas fun\u00e7\u00f5es cognitivas, como a mem\u00f3ria. Depois de concluir um p\u00f3s-doutorado no laborat\u00f3rio de Gingrich, voltei para a Argentina e passei a integrar o laborat\u00f3rio de <\/span>Jorge Medina<\/span><\/a> na Universidad de Buenos Aires para dar continuidade a essa linha de pesquisa. Na \u00e9poca, o laborat\u00f3rio de Medina estava trabalhando com consolida\u00e7\u00e3o e desambigua\u00e7\u00e3o da mem\u00f3ria. A transi\u00e7\u00e3o para esse tipo de pesquisa ocorreu de forma bastante natural para mim e foi desencadeada\u2014em parte\u2014pela leitura deste artigo.<\/span>\r\n\r\nComo essa pesquisa mudou a sua forma de pensar sobre a neuroci\u00eancia?<\/b>\r\n\r\nAcho que esse e outros excelentes artigos sobre o desenvolvimento de ferramentas da \u00e9poca deram in\u00edcio a uma era de avan\u00e7os significativos na neuroci\u00eancia. Muitos laborat\u00f3rios estavam trabalhando no desenvolvimento de ferramentas para manipular e visualizar regi\u00f5es do c\u00e9rebro de maneiras que antes n\u00e3o eram poss\u00edveis.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nPor exemplo, <\/span>Karl Deisseroth<\/span><\/a> e seu grupo desenvolveram a optogen\u00e9tica mais ou menos na mesma \u00e9poca, que funciona de maneira semelhante, utilizando promotores gen\u00e9ticos seletivos para estimular e manipular a atividade neuronal. As ferramentas gen\u00e9ticas que estavam sendo desenvolvidas em diferentes laborat\u00f3rios mostram que essa forma de pensar estava no ar. Todo o campo sabia que, para dar os pr\u00f3ximos grandes saltos na neuroci\u00eancia, precis\u00e1vamos dessas ferramentas, e todos estavam trabalhando nesse sentido.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nAs ferramentas desenvolvidas nessa era da neuroci\u00eancia nos permitiram abordar quest\u00f5es grandes e desafiadoras: Onde as mem\u00f3rias s\u00e3o armazenadas? Quantos neur\u00f4nios s\u00e3o necess\u00e1rios? Qual \u00e9 o tamanho dessa rede de mem\u00f3ria? Quantos neur\u00f4nios s\u00e3o necess\u00e1rios para realmente ativar uma mem\u00f3ria?<\/span>\r\n\r\nExiste algum aspecto pouco valorizado deste artigo que outros neurocientistas deveriam conhecer?<\/b>\r\n\r\nO artigo causou um enorme impacto na comunidade quando foi publicado. Acho que a beleza desse trabalho foi que eles reuniram muitas outras ferramentas gen\u00e9ticas e conhecimentos que j\u00e1 existiam para criar algo novo.<\/span>\r\n\r\nCom essas descobertas, o campo passou a falar com mais certeza sobre essa ideia de que as mem\u00f3rias recrutam neur\u00f4nios que est\u00e3o ativos durante a aprendizagem\u2014mesmo que n\u00e3o seja necess\u00e1rio ativar todos os mesmos neur\u00f4nios. Essa \u00e9 uma daquelas descobertas que validaram uma ideia para a qual muitos outros laborat\u00f3rios j\u00e1 haviam encontrado evid\u00eancias indiretas, mas que ningu\u00e9m na \u00e9poca tinha conseguido responder de forma conclusiva. \u00c9 um artigo que se tornou uma esp\u00e9cie de padr\u00e3o-ouro, porque apresentou uma descoberta ousada e forneceu ferramentas para que pesquisadores explorassem quest\u00f5es semelhantes em outras \u00e1reas de pesquisa.<\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254352","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\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254352"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254352\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":255629,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254352\/revisions\/255629"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/253555"},{"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\/1209"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253549"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":253746,"date":"2026-08-13T00:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T04:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=253746"},"modified":"2026-08-25T11:36:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T15:36:05","slug":"early-experience-reshapes-zebrafish-retinal-cells-alters-behavior","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/developmental-neuroscience\/early-experience-reshapes-zebrafish-retinal-cells-alters-behavior\/","title":{"rendered":"Early experience reshapes zebrafish retinal cells, alters behavior"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The cells undergo a classic form of plasticity previously thought to occur only in downstream visual circuits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":253748,"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":[322,304,184,26],"class_list":["post-253746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-developmental-neuroscience","tag-experience-dependent-plasticity","tag-plasticity","tag-vision"],"acf":{"primary_tag":322,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/NCKJ6224","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"video","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":253750,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"Circuit transformer:<\/strong> A three-day-old larval zebrafish\u2019s visual experiences remodel the interneurons that determine the retina\u2019s output to the optic tectum (shown as white lines), ultimately transforming how the animal engages with its surroundings.","hero_by":"Courtesy of Paride Antinucci","hero_credit":"","hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[235277],"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":"be0870c9-d544-4248-905c-329977f930ae","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":"Visual experiences during early life famously shape cortical circuits. Animals deprived of vision in one eye rewire their <\/span>cortex<\/span><\/a> to favor the other eye, according to Nobel Prize-winning work by Hubel and Wiesel. And animals raised in controlled visual environments\u2014surrounded by vertical stripes or horizontal ones, for example\u2014<\/span>adjust their cortical neurons\u2019 orientation tuning<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis kind of experience-dependent plasticity also occurs in the retina itself, leading to lasting changes in behavior, according to a recent zebrafish<\/span> study<\/span><\/a> in <\/span>Neuron<\/span><\/i>. The sensory structure had long been thought to be hardwired.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cThe field in general doesn\u2019t think that activity has any effect on the retina, and it\u2019s always [acting] downstream,\u201d says<\/span> Marla Feller<\/span><\/a>, professor of neuroscience at University of California Berkeley, who wasn\u2019t involved in the study.<\/span>\r\n\r\nPrevious research suggests that waves of spontaneous neuronal activity in the retina that <\/span>begin prenatally<\/span><\/a> and continue till mice open their eyes <\/span>help shape visual circuitry<\/span><\/a>. The new work is the first to show that what an animal sees can prompt retinal activity that changes the shape and function of its interneurons, altering downstream processes including behavior, Feller says.<\/span>\r\n\r\nVertebrates share many aspects of wiring in the retina, where layers of interneurons transform the pixel-like input from photoreceptors into distinct information channels encoding features of the visual environment. This commonality includes amacrine cells, which are one of the most diverse kinds of interneurons, says <\/span>Robert Hindges<\/span><\/a>, professor of developmental neurobiology at King\u2019s College London and an investigator on the new study.<\/span>\r\n\r\nIn zebrafish, amacrine cells expressing the cell adhesion molecule teneurin-3 respond to visual stimuli oriented parallel to the cells\u2019 physical orientation, Hindges and his colleagues reported in 2013, and these cells are<\/span> essential for establishing orientation selectivity<\/span><\/a>. Mice and rabbits have similar amacrine cells that <\/span>shape the orientation selectivity<\/span><\/a> of retinal ganglion cells.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAmacrine cells, because of their role and the fact that they can be genetically labelled, seemed like a good place to start looking into the effects of visual environment on developmental plasticity in the retina, Hindges says.<\/span>"},{"acf_fc_layout":"image_comp","aspect_ratio":"inline3-2","title":"","image":253754,"link":"","image_caption":"Swim preference:<\/strong> Zebrafish preferred to swim into parallel-oriented stripes, but if they saw only horizontal stripes for the first five days after fertilization, they did not show a preference. ","image_byline":{"by":"","credit":""}},{"acf_fc_layout":"copy_comp","copy":"[tt_text class='']I[\/tt_text]n the new study, zebrafish larvae lived in V-shaped channels with either horizontal or vertical black and white stripes on the walls for the first five days after fertilization.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAmacrine cells oriented parallel to the stripes became more elongated than usual, while others became rounder. Since these cells are distributed evenly across the retina, shape changes suggest that some occupy more space than others, says study investigator <\/span>Phoebe Reynolds<\/span><\/a>, postdoctoral fellow at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research.<\/span>\r\n\r\nAt this stage, orientation-selective retinal output to the optic tectum was biased towards the stripe orientation the fish saw, the researchers found, and the bias persisted for at least two days after the animals were moved to a neutral environment.<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='Marla Feller<\/span>']The field in general doesn\u2019t think that activity has any effect on the retina, and it\u2019s always [acting] downstream.<\/span>[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\nIn another series of experiments, freely swimming fish given a choice between stripes of different angles preferred swimming towards stripes that ran parallel to their bodies, but those raised in a horizontal environment showed no preference. Fish lacking the TENEURIN-3 gene and raised in a horizontal environment, however, behaved normally, which suggests the animals can see the stimuli, but the loss of the gene \u201cdisturbs the cells in a way that they lose the ability to show plasticity,\u201d Hindges says.<\/span>\r\n\r\nIt is unclear why only the zebrafish raised in a vertical stripe environment prefer parallel-oriented stripes, he says. In addition to exploring the behavior further, Hindges says he is interested in looking at how \u201cthe changed amacrine cells\u201d connect differently to ganglion cells.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe study is novel because it shows that \u201cyou can raise animals in a very specific environment, and their retinal circuits have now changed so that they\u2019re better for that environment,\u201d says<\/span> Alexandre Tiriac<\/span><\/a>, assistant professor of biological sciences at Vanderbilt University. But this may be more important in fish than in other animals because they \u201cbegin exploring their environment very early in their development,\u201d he adds.<\/span>\r\n\r\nIn mice, the effects of spontaneous retinal waves are known, but the existing evidence had not explained how activity shapes development and function, Tiriac says. By linking morphology, function and behavior, this study fills a much-needed gap in the field, he says.<\/span>\r\n\r\nFeller says the shape changes to the amacrine cells are particularly intriguing. It means it is now possible to study \u201cwhat in the cell reads out that activity pattern and changes either synaptic strength or morphology,\u201d she says. \u201cWe all want to understand what all of these things mean in terms of interpreting the natural world.\u201d<\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253746","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=253746"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254348,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253746\/revisions\/254348"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/235277"}],"acf:term":[{"embeddable":true,"taxonomy":"post_tag","href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags\/322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":253665,"date":"2026-08-12T11:00:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T15:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=253665"},"modified":"2026-08-12T12:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T16:13:29","slug":"loss-of-interneuron-plasticity-may-be-shared-hallmark-of-neurodevelopmental-conditions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/spectrum\/loss-of-interneuron-plasticity-may-be-shared-hallmark-of-neurodevelopmental-conditions\/","title":{"rendered":"Loss of interneuron plasticity may be shared hallmark of neurodevelopmental conditions"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Restoring an experience-dependent interneuron plasticity gene in adulthood improves memory and cuts seizures in CNTNAP2 knockout mice, a new study shows.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":253668,"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":[17,275,31,24,188,157,197],"class_list":["post-253665","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-autism","tag-cntnap2","tag-gene-expression","tag-mouse-models","tag-neurobiology","tag-neurodevelopment","tag-spectrum"],"acf":{"primary_tag":197,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/NSHD6569","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"feat_image","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"More MEIS:<\/strong> The expression of MEIS2 (green), a gene associated with experience-dependent plasticity, increases in hippocampal PV interneurons in wildtype mice (left two columns) after they complete a social recognition task (second column), but not in a mouse model of neurodevelopmental conditions (right two columns).","hero_by":"","hero_credit":"","hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[107226],"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":"02c711b8-20a6-427b-ad0e-4afc3553c9fa","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":"Interneurons sculpt circuits across the brain, adjusting their synapses, excitability and output in response to learning and social experiences. Glitches in this delicate fine tuning, called experience-dependent interneuron plasticity, can lead to hyperexcitability, seizures and cognitive impairments\u2014all common traits in a variety of neurodevelopmental conditions.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis overlap may be rooted in genetics, according to a <\/span>new study<\/span><\/a> published today in <\/span>Nature<\/span><\/i>. Many of the genes turned on in interneurons in a hippocampal circuit during experience-dependent plasticity also appear on lists of genes strongly linked to autism, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia and epilepsy.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cPeople have talked about a shared genetic architecture [between neurodevelopmental disorders], but what does it look like at a circuit level of cognition?\u201d says study investigator <\/span>Amar Sahay<\/span><\/a>, professor of psychiatry at Harvard University. \u201cThese observations really beg the question: Do they converge on any biological mechanism of cognitive impairment?\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nExperience-dependent interneuron plasticity is one answer to that question, the study shows: In a genetic mouse model of neurodevelopmental impairment, the animals fail to upregulate a key plasticity gene and retune their interneurons in response to social experience. Restoring the expression of that gene in parvalbumin (PV) interneurons in a hippocampal circuit eased the animals\u2019 seizures and improved their memory.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cWe found a convergent circuit mechanism for these neurodevelopmental risk genes that reflects a shared genetic architecture,\u201d Sahay says.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nPV interneuron hypofunction has long been recognized as a feature of neurodevelopmental conditions, including autism, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, but \u201cthis study suggests that it may not be purely the hypofunction that\u2019s the problem,\u201d says <\/span>Dan Feldman<\/span><\/a>, professor of neuroscience at the University of California, Berkeley, who was not involved in the work. \u201cIt may be a loss of the adaptive plasticity of PV cells that contributes to the problem.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_text class='']E[\/tt_text]xperience-dependent interneuron plasticity occurs all over the brain, including in the somatosensory cortex and the hippocampus. In one such circuit of feedforward inhibition, during learning or social experiences, mossy fibers from the dentate gyrus activate and turn on PV inhibitory interneurons that, in turn, dampen and regulate the activity of neurons in the CA3 and CA2 regions of the hippocampus. This process influences encoding, storage and memory retrieval.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nMimicking PV interneuron plasticity by removing the molecular brake on those mossy fibers in mice upregulated a set of 1,530 genes, which the researchers termed experience-dependent genes. Of those, 82 are linked to autism with high confidence, 4 are implicated in schizophrenia and 12 are tied to bipolar disorder, the researchers found. Half of the upregulated autism-linked genes are also implicated in epilepsy.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe team focused on one of those genes, called <\/span>MEIS2<\/span><\/a>, in <\/span>CNTNAP2<\/span><\/a> knockout mice, which are known to have a variety of developmental phenotypes, including aberrant lamination in the cortex, loss of PV cells in the hippocampus, and impaired spatial and social cognition, Sahay says.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='Dan Feldman<\/span>']It may be a loss of the adaptive plasticity of PV cells that contributes to the problem.<\/span>[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\nThe mice also have a loss of PV interneuron plasticity, Sahay\u2019s team found. Exposure to a novel mouse increased the points of contact between PV interneurons and neurons in the CA3 and CA2 areas, as well as MEIS2 expression levels, in wildtype mice but not in the knockout mice.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt allowed us, within one model, to look at all of these different [features]: look at whether restoring PV experience-dependent plasticity can rescue cognition, spatial and social, and suppress seizures,\u201d Sahay says.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nRestoring expression of MEIS2 in the knockout animals\u2019 PV interneurons reversed the increased excitability and reduced inhibition onto CA2 neurons, as well as synaptic transmission and inhibitory long-term depression. The manipulation also reduced seizures and reversed impairments in social recognition and discrimination by enhancing the ensemble of neurons.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cIt\u2019s really very impressive that they were able to develop a manipulation to restore plasticity to PV cells by increasing MEIS2 levels, and to show that that can powerfully rescue many features of circuit function in these animals,\u201d Feldman says.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe power of the study also lies in the \u201cvery sophisticated compilation of techniques,\u201d including the fact that they targeted the specific inputs from the PV cells onto the CA3\/CA2 region, says <\/span>Wen-Jun Gao<\/span><\/a>, professor of neurobiology and neuroanatomy at Drexel University, who was not involved in the study.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThis study looked at just one experience-dependent gene, but in the future, Sahay wants to look at the entire array of regulators, he says. \u201cWe think that these [genes] are acting differently from each other, though. In a PV cell <\/span>in vivo<\/span><\/i>, all of these genes go up and down in very, very small amounts. So it's almost as if there's an [experience-dependent plasticity gene] code.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nMoving forward, he adds, the plan is to work on deciphering that code and how it influences PV cells to sculpt inhibition of different cell populations, and also seeing if the findings generalize to other models of neurodevelopmental disorders. <\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253665","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=253665"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253665\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253717,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253665\/revisions\/253717"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/107226"}],"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\/253668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253665"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253665"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253665"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":253602,"date":"2026-08-12T00:00:59","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T04:00:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=253602"},"modified":"2026-08-12T12:01:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T16:01:18","slug":"neuropsychiatric-mri-brain-signatures-fail-reproducibility-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/spectrum\/neuropsychiatric-mri-brain-signatures-fail-reproducibility-test\/","title":{"rendered":"Neuropsychiatric MRI brain signatures fail reproducibility test"},"content":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Small neuroimaging studies are unlikely to capture consistent anatomical changes related to conditions such as autism, schizophrenia and mood disorders, according to a new \u201cwake-up call\u201d study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":253604,"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":[17,136,21,76,54,137,197],"class_list":["post-253602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-autism","tag-bipolar-disorder","tag-brain-imaging","tag-depression","tag-mri","tag-schizophrenia","tag-spectrum"],"acf":{"primary_tag":197,"doi_url":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.53053\/CSEM8273","citation_count":"0","custom_js_library":"","hero_type":"feat_image","hero_alt_image":null,"hero_youtube":"","hero_video":null,"hero_layout":"landscape","hero_caption":"Like minded:<\/strong> Structural MRI scans of people with Alzheimer\u2019s disease (top) are more consistent across independent study sites than scans of people with depression (below) or other neuropsychiatric conditions. ","hero_by":"","hero_credit":"","hero_bg_color":"tan","authors":[107413],"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":"c6e5f331-1570-4847-b126-cb9ef0f78449","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":"Individual structural MRI studies fail to identify reproducible brain signatures for autism and other neuropsychiatric conditions, a new <\/span>study<\/span><\/a> finds.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nBrain scans of people with autism, depression and bipolar disorder rarely show consistent differences in cortical thickness or grey matter volume across independent studies, according to the analysis. The study suggests that these structural measures are unlikely to provide reliable biomarkers of those conditions and that different approaches are needed.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cThe findings are really a wake-up call. We\u2019ve all been operating under the assumption that if we keep doing these studies enough, eventually the noise will wash out and we will converge on some consensus of what the brain changes in a particular disorder are,\u201d says study investigator <\/span>Alex Fornito<\/span><\/a>, professor of psychology at Monash University. \u201cOur findings suggest if we keep doing that business as usual, that\u2019s not going to happen.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nStructural MRI studies have long produced conflicting results. Some have identified <\/span>greater cortical thickness<\/span><\/a> of select brain regions in people with autism than those without the condition, <\/span>while others<\/span><\/a> have <\/span>reported the opposite<\/span><\/a>. Until now, it was unclear whether such discrepancies reflected differences in study design and analysis, or whether structural brain signatures for these conditions do not exist.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nTo address that question, Fornito and his colleagues analyzed MRI scans from thousands of people with neuropsychiatric conditions\u2014including depression, schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder, autism and bipolar disorder\u2014as well as from people with Alzheimer\u2019s disease. They calculated cortical thickness or grey matter volume using the same analysis pipeline across all datasets and then compared how consistently brain changes were reproduced between independent study sites.\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nUnlike Alzheimer\u2019s disease, which showed a robust and reproducible brain signature, the neuropsychiatric conditions initially showed little agreement across studies. Accounting for demographic and technical factors, including age, sex and scanner differences, failed to explain the inconsistency, the study found.<\/span>\r\n\r\n\u201cWe need to temper our expectations by acknowledging that there is only so much that MRI and other neuroimaging techniques can tell us,\u201d says <\/span>Joshua Roffman<\/span><\/a>, associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, who was not involved in the study. \u201cFor example, measurement of cortical thickness\u2014one of the main imaging markers described in this study\u2014comes along with an intrinsic amount of measurement error, even under ideal conditions.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_text class='']U[\/tt_text]sing mathematical models to simulate larger studies, the team found that for schizophrenia, reproducibility improved as sample sizes increased, reaching the same level as for Alzheimer\u2019s disease with simulated cohorts of more than 200 participants. But the same pattern did not emerge for autism, depression, schizoaffective disorder or bipolar disorder\u2014though datasets exceeding 150 participants were limited for most of these conditions.<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe findings were published last month in <\/span>Nature Neuroscience<\/span><\/i>.<\/span>\r\n\r\n[tt_sidebar_quote author='Joshua Roffman<\/span>']We need to temper our expectations by acknowledging that there is only so much that MRI and other neuroimaging techniques can tell us.<\/span>[\/tt_sidebar_quote]\r\n\r\nThat difference could reflect the more stringent criteria used in diagnosing schizophrenia, Fornito says. For example, a schizophrenia diagnosis requires a consistent pattern of symptoms for six months. In contrast, diagnoses of autism, bipolar disorder and depression apply to people with broader ranges of clinical presentations, he says.<\/span>\r\n\r\nNeuropsychiatric diagnoses are thought to correspond to distinct brain changes, says <\/span>Louise Mewton<\/span><\/a>, associate professor of public health at the University of Sydney, who was not involved in the work. But \u201cacross this study and many others, we are not seeing evidence of discrete categories of mental disorders.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nAlternative frameworks that classify people according to trait profiles\u2014such as the <\/span>Hierarchical Taxonomy of Psychopathology (HiTOP) model<\/span><\/a>\u2014might help researchers uncover more reliable structural biomarkers, says study investigator <\/span>Trang Cao<\/span><\/a>, a research fellow at Monash University. Repeating the analysis using cohorts characterized in this way could reveal more consistent brain signatures, she says.<\/span>\r\n\r\nBut imaging alone is unlikely to provide the answers, says <\/span>Maria Di Biase<\/span><\/a>, associate professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the University of Melbourne, who was not involved in the study. Rather than serving as a \u201cstandalone diagnostic tool, structural MRI will likely be most informative when integrated with genetics, molecular biology and longitudinal clinical data.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nLarge collaborative efforts are already moving in that direction. The <\/span>ENIGMA consortium<\/span><\/a> pools brain imaging data from 43 countries and combines it with genetic and epigenetic information to identify subtle biological signatures that would be impossible to detect in smaller studies. That type of approach is \u201creally going to help us pick apart which brain changes are robust [from] those which aren\u2019t,\u201d Fornito says.<\/span>\r\n\r\nNext, the team plans to repeat the analysis using larger unsimulated datasets to determine whether reproducibility improves as sample sizes increase, Cao says. Rather than focusing solely on regional measures such as cortical thickness and grey matter volume, they also plan to investigate whole-brain anatomical patterns to see if these provide reproducible signatures of neuropsychiatric conditions, she says.<\/span>"}]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253602","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=253602"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253602\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253713,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253602\/revisions\/253713"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/contributor\/107413"}],"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\/253604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}},{"id":253541,"date":"2026-08-11T00:00:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T04:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/?p=253541"},"modified":"2026-08-12T11:38:51","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T15:38:51","slug":"three-models-three-routes-to-altered-auditory-processing-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetransmitter.org\/spectrum\/three-models-three-routes-to-altered-auditory-processing-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Three models, three routes to altered auditory processing, 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 10 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":73,"featured_media":253543,"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-253541","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\/BISZ8004","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":"90323b7a-a26c-4cd1-9f50-1f2c7e3846dd","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":"Hear, hear:<\/b> A comparison of brain activity in three genetic models of autism demonstrated different mechanisms that lead to changes in auditory processing, according to a new <\/span>study<\/span><\/a> in zebrafish. The genetic lines examined\u2014each carrying variants of FMR1, MECP2 or CNTNAP2\u2014displayed altered sensory behaviors, such as hyper-responsiveness and reduced habituation. As for brain circuitry, the FMR1 model showed increased activity in the auditory regions and an imbalance in excitatory versus inhibitory activity, whereas the other models showed differences in network activity over time. All three models showed altered brain activity in sensory integration and sensorimotor gating regions. The authors conclude that their comparison \u201csuggests that diverse genetic factors may contribute to similar behavioral effects through a range of circuit- and network-scale mechanisms.\u201d<\/span>\r\n\r\nAutism research spotted this week:<\/b>\r\n