IMFAR 2011

Recent articles

Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Despite reasoning skills, Asperger boys struggle to focus

Teenage boys with Asperger syndrome with higher-than-average scores on tests of abstract reasoning fare worse than controls on short-term memory and ability to filter out distractions.

By Deborah Rudacille
16 May 2011 | 3 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Language gene mouse model could help test autism drugs

Mice lacking CNTNAP2, a gene linked to autism and language impairment, show behaviors and brain abnormalities that reflect those seen in people with disorder, according to new findings presented Thursday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in San Diego.

By Deborah Rudacille
16 May 2011 | 4 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Brain overgrowth may drive early symptoms of autism

Long bundles of neurons that connect key regions in the brain develop abnormally in the first year of life in children with autism, according to new findings presented Friday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in San Diego.

By Deborah Rudacille
16 May 2011 | 5 min read
Spectrum from The Transmitter.

Budget cuts hit autism research

Cuts to the National Institutes of Health budget affect both investigators who have existing grants — which will receive one percent less than in 2010 — and those applying for funding.

By Deborah Rudacille
13 May 2011 | 2 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

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.

By Laura Dattaro
30 June 2025 | 4 min read

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.

By Ashley Juavinett
30 June 2025 | 10 min read

Astrocytes sense neuromodulators to orchestrate neuronal activity and shape behavior

Astrocytes serve as crucial mediators of neuromodulatory processes previously attributed to direct communication between neurons, four new studies show.

By Claudia López Lloreda
27 June 2025 | 9 min listen