Genetics

Recent articles

A red speech bubble emanates from a megaphone.

‘These plans are simply not acceptable’: Q&A with Helen Tager-Flusberg

Last week, Tager-Flusberg formed the Coalition of Autism Scientists to push back on the U.S. government’s plans for autism research, as described by Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr. The coalition already has 220 members.

By Sydney Wyatt
1 May 2025 | 5 min read
Illustration of two silhouettes overlaid by opaque square panels.

Why hasn’t genetics taught us more about schizophrenia?

Large-scale genomics studies have failed to identify specific pathways that go awry in schizophrenia. Alternative approaches focusing on cellular, molecular and systems-level changes may be needed.

By Joshua R. Sanes
18 February 2025 | 8 min read
A repeated DNA strand extends farther from the left side of the image with each iteration.

Huntington’s disease gene variants past a certain size poison select cells

The findings—providing “the next step in the whole pathway”—help explain the disease’s late onset and offer hope that it has an extended therapeutic window.

By Angie Voyles Askham
16 January 2025 | 6 min read
Stylized illustration combines flat color and 3D forms make up a mitochondria with human heads inside it.

Meet the ‘mitomaniacs’ who say mitochondria matter in autism

Clues that problems with mitochondria contribute to autism have been accumulating for decades. In the past five years, a mutant mouse and a flurry of findings have energized the field.

By Laura Dattaro
22 November 2021 | 18 min read
Illustration shows a boy with converging patterns overlapping; these lines signify autism and intellectual disability.

The blurred line between autism and intellectual disability

Doctors often conflate autism and intellectual disability, and no wonder: The biological distinction between them is murky. Scientific progress depends on knowing where the conditions intersect — and part ways.

By Emily Sohn
15 April 2020 | 15 min read

Spotted around the web: Gut microbiome, oxytocin treatment, hippocampus development

Here is a roundup of news and research for the week of 27 January.

By Jill Adams
31 January 2020 | 3 min read

Notable papers in autism research in 2019

This year’s top papers deepen our understanding of autism’s genetics and reveal mixed results from trials of autism therapies.

By Melissa Thomas Baum
23 December 2019 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

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
Research image of developing axons in the fly brain.

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
Distorted floppy discs.

NIH autism database announcement raises concerns among researchers

The U.S. National Institutes of Health announced a plan to pour $50 million into data science projects intended to investigate the condition’s causes, but the initiative’s short timeline and other atypicalities have prompted questions.

By Angie Voyles Askham
5 June 2025 | 5 min read