Shelby Grebbin was Spectrum’s editorial assistant. Before joining Spectrum, she was staff assistant at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism. As a freelance journalist, she has covered stories related to public health, data transparency and prison health care. Shelby has a B.A. in journalism from Emerson College in Boston, Massachusetts.
Shelby Grebbin
Editorial Assistant
From this contributor
Researchers publish new dataset on minimally verbal autistic people
Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published the first repository of vocalizations from minimally verbal autistic people. Those with few or no spoken words still produce a range of phonemes, or units of sound, that may serve as developmental markers or intervention targets.
Researchers publish new dataset on minimally verbal autistic people
By
Shelby Grebbin
18 May 2022 | 4 min read
Autism and menopause: Q&A with Rachel Moseley and Julie Turner-Cobb
Menopause poses significant challenges for autistic people, according to a small survey published in 2020 — the first to explore the transition among people with autism traits.
Autism and menopause: Q&A with Rachel Moseley and Julie Turner-Cobb
By
Shelby Grebbin
7 April 2022 | 5 min read
Web-based autism screening service raises a host of concerns
Neurona Health, a company in San Francisco, California, backed away from part of its newly launched services after Spectrum started reporting about them.
Web-based autism screening service raises a host of concerns
By
Shelby Grebbin
21 March 2022 | 6 min read
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More than two dozen papers by neural tube researcher come under scrutiny
One of the studies, published in 2021 in Science Advances, received an editorial expression of concern on 21 May, after the journal learned that an institutional review of alleged image problems is underway.
More than two dozen papers by neural tube researcher come under scrutiny
One of the studies, published in 2021 in Science Advances, received an editorial expression of concern on 21 May, after the journal learned that an institutional review of alleged image problems is underway.
By
Claudia López Lloreda
9 June 2025 | 6 min read
On the importance of reading (just not too much)
The real fun of being a neuroscientist, and maybe the key to asking and answering new questions, is to think big and take intellectual risks.
On the importance of reading (just not too much)
The real fun of being a neuroscientist, and maybe the key to asking and answering new questions, is to think big and take intellectual risks.
By
Sheena Josselyn
9 June 2025 | 8 min read
How developing neurons simplify their search for a synaptic mate
Streamlining the problem from 3D to 1D eases the expedition—a strategy the study investigators deployed to rewire an olfactory circuit in flies.
How developing neurons simplify their search for a synaptic mate
Streamlining the problem from 3D to 1D eases the expedition—a strategy the study investigators deployed to rewire an olfactory circuit in flies.
By
Calli McMurray
6 June 2025 | 6 min read