Michael Eisenstein.

Michael Eisenstein

Freelance Writer

Michael Eisenstein is a freelance writer covering a broad range of topics in biomedical research and biotechnology. Prior to working as a freelancer, he was on the founding editorial team of Nature Methods, where he served as news and technology editor. His writing has appeared in Nature, Nature Biotechnology, Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology News and Scientific American, among other publications.

Eisenstein has an M.S. in molecular biology from Rockefeller University and an Sc.B. in biology from Brown University.

From this contributor

Annette Dolphin.
Ion channels Microphone

Remembering Annette Dolphin, who helped explain gabapentin’s effects

By Michael Eisenstein
13 March 2026 | 7 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.
Spectrum

Treatments: In the waiting room

By Michael Eisenstein
6 December 2012 | 13 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Clockwise: lab mouse, zebrafish, octopus, rat pushing a cube, nematodes, fruit fly.
Animal models

The term ‘model organism’ should be reserved for biological systems

By referring to artificial neural networks as model organisms, we run the risk of distorting funding priorities and disregard the explanatory power of a shared evolutionary history across biological organisms.

By Marc Coutanche
13 November 2026 | 6 min read
Basal ganglia

New phase of BRAIN Initiative spawns basal ganglia ‘parts list’

With a standardized cell naming system and infrastructure for data collection and analysis, the basal ganglia project sets the stage for a whole-brain primate atlas.

By Claudia López Lloreda
12 November 2026 | 1 min watch
Research image showing genes containing microexons in mice.
Spectrum

Machine-learning model spots autism-linked variants that scramble splicing

The model provides a way to investigate genetic variation in regions of the genome whose functions have been difficult to interpret.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
12 November 2026 | 4 min read