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

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Illustration of DNA with genetic code.
Spectrum

Autism-linked variants converge on two molecular patterns in mouse brains

Gene activity across 17 autism mouse models occurs in either of two opposing transcriptomic states, supporting the idea that diverse genetic changes may converge on a few recurring biological patterns.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
1 October 2026 | 4 min read
Illustration of pipa frog showing nerves in fingertips.
Neuro’s ark

How the pipa frog hunts prey by touch

Each of the frog’s eight fingers branches into 16 ultra-sensitive tips, which together function as a fovea—potentially the first demonstration of this type of sensory structure outside of mammals.

By Calli McMurray
30 September 2026 | 7 min read
scaled
Letters to the editor

Response to ‘Finally, a new route for the magnetic-sense field’

Magnetoreception in Drosophila has much to offer those with an interest in neuroscience.

By Denis Henshaw
30 September 2026 | 3 min read