Calli McMurray is a reporter for The Transmitter, where she covers research integrity, brain-body physiology and unique animal models. She also reports on structural and regulatory issues that affect research.

Before joining The Transmitter in 2024, she interned at The Chronicle of Higher Education and freelanced for STAT, The Texas Observer, KFF Health News and elsewhere.

Education

  • M.A. in science journalism, New York University
  • B.S. in neuroscience, University of Texas at Austin

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Research image of lesion network mapping.

‘Overdue’ debate unfurls over neuroimaging method

After a January paper questioned the validity of an approach called lesion network mapping, its users are pressure testing their results.

By Angie Voyles Askham
17 April 2026 | 8 min read
Research image of zebrafish brain activity.

Nearly 400 compounds affect behaviors tied to autism-linked genes in zebrafish

Estropipate, paclitaxel and levocarnitine altered behaviors tied to SCN2A and DYRK1A variants specifically, a new open-source platform revealed.

By Charles Q. Choi
16 April 2026 | 4 min read
NINDS building.

What neuroscientists want from a new NINDS director

The search is underway for the next director of the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, who will face a range of challenges, neuroscientists say, but will also have an “immense opportunity to do good things.”

By Helena Kudiabor
15 April 2026 | 4 min read