Brendan Borrell is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles, California. His stories have appeared in The Atlantic, The New York Times, Bloomberg Businessweek, Outside, National Geographic and many other publications. He is the author of “The First Shots: The Epic Rivalries and Heroic Science Behind the Race to the Coronavirus Vaccine,” and he has a Ph.D. in integrative biology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Brendan Borrell
Contributing writer
From this contributor
Exclusive: Who is Richard Frye, the neurologist who researches and advocates for leucovorin as an autism treatment?
Frye has led two placebo-controlled trials of the folate supplement in autistic people; the first was suspended by regulators, and the other has yet to be published.
Alzheimer’s scientist forced to retract paper during his own replication effort
Gary Dunbar, a neuroscientist at Central Michigan University, was attempting to redo the 2020 paper after a collaborator admitted to using flawed data in the original work.
Alzheimer’s scientist forced to retract paper during his own replication effort
By
Brendan Borrell
18 July 2025 | 4 min read
Former Columbia University psychiatrist committed research misconduct, says federal watchdog
Bret Rutherford, whose research was halted following a suicide in a clinical trial, falsely reported participant eligibility, according to the U.S. Office of Research Integrity.
Former Columbia University psychiatrist committed research misconduct, says federal watchdog
By
Brendan Borrell, Ellie Kincaid
8 October 2024 | 3 min read
FDA describes ‘objectionable conditions’ at New York State Psychiatric Institute
The facility’s institutional review board failed to report a 2021 incident and “serious and ongoing noncompliance” by a principal investigator, according to a letter released by the federal agency this week.
FDA describes ‘objectionable conditions’ at New York State Psychiatric Institute
By
Brendan Borrell
2 April 2024 | 6 min read
Controversial dyslexia study marred by methodological and ethical problems, researchers say
Subsequent studies have also failed to validate a range of products based on the work.
Controversial dyslexia study marred by methodological and ethical problems, researchers say
By
Brendan Borrell
27 February 2024 | 8 min read
Explore more from The Transmitter
The silent majority: How astrocytes shape the brain across scales
Melissa Cooper talks to Mac Shine about her new work that reveals how these glial cells—long dismissed as the brain’s housekeepers—wire together in precise, long-range networks that remodel in response to experience.
The silent majority: How astrocytes shape the brain across scales
Melissa Cooper talks to Mac Shine about her new work that reveals how these glial cells—long dismissed as the brain’s housekeepers—wire together in precise, long-range networks that remodel in response to experience.
By
Mac Shine
12 May 2026 | 3 min read
Untangling genetic effects, and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 11 May.
Untangling genetic effects, and more
Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 11 May.
By
Jill Adams
12 May 2026 | 2 min read
The next unit of science: Is the scientific paper due to be replaced?
Artificial intelligence is pushing scientific publishing to the brink. For a field as sprawling as neuroscience, the crisis may also be an opportunity to finally connect findings across subfields.
The next unit of science: Is the scientific paper due to be replaced?
Artificial intelligence is pushing scientific publishing to the brink. For a field as sprawling as neuroscience, the crisis may also be an opportunity to finally connect findings across subfields.
By
Tim Requarth
11 May 2026 | 11 min read