Maaisha Osman was the Spring 2023 editorial intern at Spectrum, writing articles about the latest in autism research. She graduated from the Northeastern Journalism School in Boston, Massachusetts, and was an editor at Storybench — a digital publication on media innovation. Her work has appeared in STAT, The Bay State Banner and other local news outlets in Boston. You can find her on Twitter @MaaishaO.

Maaisha Osman
Former news intern
Spectrum
From this contributor
Abundant motor proteins disrupt cries in FOXP2 mice
Knocking down the gene that codes for the proteins normalizes the vocalizations.

Abundant motor proteins disrupt cries in FOXP2 mice
Two scientists, two interventions: A ‘gentle rivalry’ to aid autistic children
Minimally verbal autistic preschoolers gained new words and phrases in a head-to-head comparison of two interventions.

Two scientists, two interventions: A ‘gentle rivalry’ to aid autistic children
Medicaid waivers curb disenrollment among autistic young adults
Autistic people tend to drop out of Medicaid once they reach adulthood in states that don’t waive the income restrictions on enrollment.

Medicaid waivers curb disenrollment among autistic young adults
Autism intervention before age 2 may aid social, language skills
Autistic toddlers who receive a personalized intervention at about 18 months of age gain more abilities than those who start the therapy nine months later.

Autism intervention before age 2 may aid social, language skills
Black and women researchers are less likely to hold three or more NIH grants simultaneously
A growing proportion of researchers has reached such “super principal investigator” status, but the distribution is not even across demographic groups.

Black and women researchers are less likely to hold three or more NIH grants simultaneously
Explore more from The Transmitter
Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order
Instead, neurons encode the position of sequential items in working memory based on when they fire during ongoing brain wave oscillations—a finding that challenges a long-standing theory.

Null and Noteworthy: Neurons tracking sequences don’t fire in order
Instead, neurons encode the position of sequential items in working memory based on when they fire during ongoing brain wave oscillations—a finding that challenges a long-standing theory.
How to teach this paper: ‘Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia,’ by Liddelow et al. (2017)
Shane Liddelow and his collaborators identified the factors that transform astrocytes from their helpful to harmful form. Their work is a great choice if you want to teach students about glial cell types, cell culture, gene expression or protein measurement.

How to teach this paper: ‘Neurotoxic reactive astrocytes are induced by activated microglia,’ by Liddelow et al. (2017)
Shane Liddelow and his collaborators identified the factors that transform astrocytes from their helpful to harmful form. Their work is a great choice if you want to teach students about glial cell types, cell culture, gene expression or protein measurement.
Astrocytes sense neuromodulators to orchestrate neuronal activity and shape behavior
Astrocytes serve as crucial mediators of neuromodulatory processes previously attributed to direct communication between neurons, four new studies show.

Astrocytes sense neuromodulators to orchestrate neuronal activity and shape behavior
Astrocytes serve as crucial mediators of neuromodulatory processes previously attributed to direct communication between neurons, four new studies show.