Mouse models

Recent articles

People stand at a conveyor belt that emanates from an open mouth and pick fruit-shaped objects off of it.

This paper changed my life: Victoria Abraira on a tasty link between circuits and behavior

The findings from Charles Zuker’s lab put the taste system on the map, revealing that some fundamental principles of behavior are hardwired.

By Victoria Abraira
22 July 2025 | 5 min listen
Different colored rectangles form the shapes of a bird, fish and insect.

Systems and circuit neuroscience need an evolutionary perspective

To identify fundamental neuroscientific principles that generalize across species, neuroscientists must frame their research through an evolutionary lens.

By Karl Farrow, Katja Reinhard
16 July 2025 | 7 min listen
Diego Bohorquez portrait on blue background.

The big idea with Diego Bohórquez

His theories around the neuropod have challenged the boundaries of classic ideas regarding gut-brain communication.

By Sydney Wyatt
20 June 2025 | 14 min listen
An opaque cube is repeated multiple times to create the appearance of overlapping cubes.

Sounding the alarm on pseudoreplication: Q&A with Constantinos Eleftheriou and Peter Kind

Most studies of neurological disorders in mice erroneously treat multiple samples from a single animal as independent replicates, according to a new analysis. But scientists and journals can take steps to curb this practice.

By Lauren Schenkman
12 June 2025 | 6 min read
Research image of neurons in the interpeduncular nucleus.

‘Understudied secret’ in brain dampens nicotine drive in mice

The interpeduncular nucleus produces an aversion to nicotine, even at low doses, and helps moderate how rewarding mice find the drug.

By Lauren Schenkman
4 June 2025 | 5 min listen

Escaping groupthink: What animals’ behavioral quirks reveal about the brain

Neuroscientists have long ignored the variability in animals’ behavioral responses in favor of studying differences across groups. But work on the brain differences that underlie that variability is beginning to pay off.

By Angie Voyles Askham
23 May 2025 | 10 min listen
Research image of the spinal meninges in mice.

Immune cells block pain in female mice only

Regulatory T cells in the spinal meninges release endogenous opioids in a sex-specific manner, new work shows.

By Angie Voyles Askham
22 May 2025 | 6 min listen
Research image of grids of mouse and human brain scans.

Too much or too little brain synchrony may underlie autism subtypes

Functional connectivity differences in autism mouse models point to two subtypes that correspond to patterns seen in some people with the condition.

By Calli McMurray
17 April 2025 | 6 min read
Research image of rodent brains.

PTEN problems underscore autism connection to excess brain fluid

Damaging variants in the autism-linked gene cause congenital hydrocephalus—a buildup of cerebrospinal fluid in the brain—by turbocharging a downstream signaling pathway that promotes the growth of cells, according to a new study.

By Holly Barker
3 April 2025 | 4 min read
Astrocytes in a mouse brain.

Unexpected astrocyte gene flips image of brain’s ‘stalwart sentinels’

The genetic marker upends the accepted orientation of non-star-like astrocytes in the glia limitans superficialis.

By Lauren Schenkman
28 March 2025 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Research visualization of reverberating activity in a selection of higher-order brain areas.

Eye puffs prompt separable sensory, affective brain responses in mice, people

Post-puff brain state might not be an emotion, some researchers caution, but the protocol provides a cross-species approach to study emotions.

By Calli McMurray
29 July 2025 | 8 min listen
Research image of dendrites in mice.

Probing the link between preterm birth and autism; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 28 July.

By Jill Adams
29 July 2025 | 2 min read
Brain scans showing activity in areas associated with threat detection and peripersonal space.

Human brain may anticipate looming contagion

Seeing a visibly ill avatar in virtual reality activates a neuroimmune pathway in brain areas related to peripersonal space and prompts an immune response, a small new study suggests.

By Claudia López Lloreda
28 July 2025 | 6 min read