Robert Joseph
Assistant professor
Boston University
From this contributor
Questions for Robert Joseph: How extreme prematurity ups autism risk
Autism is four times more prevalent among extremely premature babies than in the general population.

Questions for Robert Joseph: How extreme prematurity ups autism risk
Explore more from The Transmitter
INSAR takes ‘intentional break’ from annual summer webinar series
The International Society for Autism Research cited a need to “thoughtfully reimagine” its popular online program before resuming it in 2026.

INSAR takes ‘intentional break’ from annual summer webinar series
The International Society for Autism Research cited a need to “thoughtfully reimagine” its popular online program before resuming it in 2026.
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.