Transcriptomics

Recent articles

Concentric circles.

What are the most transformative neuroscience tools and technologies developed in the past five years?

Artificial intelligence and deep-learning methods featured prominently in the survey responses, followed by genetic tools to control circuits, advanced neuroimaging, transcriptomics and various approaches to record brain activity and behavior.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 14 min read
Round conference table with empty chairs around it, seen from above.

Should neuroscience focus on big team science or the traditional model?

A balanced approach is best, according to the majority of respondents. Many stressed that big team science has value for large-scale, resource-intensive projects, particularly for cell atlases and similar efforts. But some noted that small group support is key for creativity.

By The Transmitter
15 November 2025 | 9 min read
A worm made of circuitry.

Whole-brain, bottom-up neuroscience: The time for it is now

Applying new tools to entire brains, starting with C. elegans, offers the opportunity to uncover how molecules work together to generate neural physiology and how neurons work together to generate behavior.

By Edward Boyden, Konrad Körding
20 October 2025 | 9 min read
Two slides feature human brains, with a third slide featuring the silhouette of a brain.

Exclusive: Recruitment issues jeopardize ambitious plan for human brain atlas

A lack of six new brain donors may stop the project from meeting its goal to pair molecular and cellular data with the functional organization of the cortex.

By Calli McMurray
9 May 2025 | 6 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
Research image of cell types in the human brain.

Single-cell genomics technologies and cell atlases have ushered in a new era of human neurobiology

Single-cell approaches are already shedding light on the human brain, identifying cell types that are most vulnerable in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease, for example.

By Ed Lein, Hongkui Zeng
24 March 2025 | 7 min read
Composite of brain imaging techniques.

Thanks to new technologies, neuroscientists have more direct access to the human brain than ever before

Model systems continue to offer us tremendous insight, but it’s time for basic researchers to train their sights on the human brain. If I were starting my career today, I would focus on human neurobiology.

By Joshua R. Sanes
17 March 2025 | 7 min read
Research image of gene expression.

Sequencing study spotlights tight web of genes tied to autism

The findings, shared in a preprint, help to illuminate how a large and heterogeneous group of genes could be involved in autism.

By Katie Moisse
13 March 2025 | 5 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
Six different neurons.

Early trajectory of Alzheimer’s tracked in single-cell brain atlases

Inflammation in glia and the loss of certain inhibitory cells may kick off a disease cascade decades before diagnosis.

By Angie Voyles Askham
23 October 2024 | 8 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Among brain changes studied in autism, spotlight shifts to subcortex

The striatum and thalamus are more likely than the cerebral cortex to express autism variants or bear transcriptional changes, two unpublished studies find.

By Holly Barker
11 December 2025 | 5 min read
Brain organoid.

What is the future of organoid and assembloid regulation?

Four experts weigh in on how to establish ethical guardrails for research on the 3D neuron clusters as these models become ever more complex.

By Claudia López Lloreda
10 December 2025 | 7 min read
Research image of variants of the ATPase subunit PSMC5/RPT6.

Insights on suicidality and autism; and more

Here is a roundup of autism-related news and research spotted around the web for the week of 8 December.

By Jill Adams
9 December 2025 | 2 min read

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