Animal models
Recent articles
Lions and tigers and bears: Long-lived zoo animals offer a promising venue to study mental health and neurodegenerative disorders
These animals’ lifestyles often mirror those of people, making them a more relevant milieu than lab mice for determining how environmental factors influence mental health and cognitive decline. Studying them could improve animal welfare in the process.

Lions and tigers and bears: Long-lived zoo animals offer a promising venue to study mental health and neurodegenerative disorders
These animals’ lifestyles often mirror those of people, making them a more relevant milieu than lab mice for determining how environmental factors influence mental health and cognitive decline. Studying them could improve animal welfare in the process.
How tiny tardigrades could help tackle systems neuroscience questions
The eight-legged, millimeter-long animals reveal how small nervous systems produce complex behaviors and perceptual abilities, a preprint suggests.

How tiny tardigrades could help tackle systems neuroscience questions
The eight-legged, millimeter-long animals reveal how small nervous systems produce complex behaviors and perceptual abilities, a preprint suggests.
Soft touch quells loneliness in mice
Touch modulates one of two dueling types of hypothalamic neurons that, thermostat-like, balance an animal’s drive for social interaction.

Soft touch quells loneliness in mice
Touch modulates one of two dueling types of hypothalamic neurons that, thermostat-like, balance an animal’s drive for social interaction.
Dopamine ‘gas pedal’ and serotonin ‘brake’ team up to accelerate learning
Mice learn fastest and most reliably when they experience an increase in dopamine paired with an inhibition of serotonin in their nucleus accumbens, a new study shows, helping to resolve long-standing questions about the neuromodulators’ relationship.

Dopamine ‘gas pedal’ and serotonin ‘brake’ team up to accelerate learning
Mice learn fastest and most reliably when they experience an increase in dopamine paired with an inhibition of serotonin in their nucleus accumbens, a new study shows, helping to resolve long-standing questions about the neuromodulators’ relationship.
Plaque levels differ in popular Alzheimer’s mouse model depending on which parent’s variants are passed down
5XFAD model mice that inherit two disease-related genes from their fathers have double the plaques seen in those with maternal inheritance, a new study shows.
Plaque levels differ in popular Alzheimer’s mouse model depending on which parent’s variants are passed down
5XFAD model mice that inherit two disease-related genes from their fathers have double the plaques seen in those with maternal inheritance, a new study shows.
Protocol-sharing site aims to ease administrative burden of animal research
The library of regulatory-compliant animal procedures offers experimental standards and specific language that researchers can borrow for their own legal paperwork.

Protocol-sharing site aims to ease administrative burden of animal research
The library of regulatory-compliant animal procedures offers experimental standards and specific language that researchers can borrow for their own legal paperwork.
Why practical summer courses in neuroscience matter
Among other reasons, this tradition helps researchers rekindle the unfettered joy that initially brought them to the field.

Why practical summer courses in neuroscience matter
Among other reasons, this tradition helps researchers rekindle the unfettered joy that initially brought them to the field.
Age-related brain changes in mice strike hypothalamus ‘hot spot’
Neuronal and non-neuronal cells throughout the brain also express genes—particularly those related to neuronal structure and immune function—differently in aged mice, according to a new atlas.

Age-related brain changes in mice strike hypothalamus ‘hot spot’
Neuronal and non-neuronal cells throughout the brain also express genes—particularly those related to neuronal structure and immune function—differently in aged mice, according to a new atlas.
The non-model organism “renaissance” has arrived
Meet 10 neuroscientists bringing model diversity back with the funky animals they study.

The non-model organism “renaissance” has arrived
Meet 10 neuroscientists bringing model diversity back with the funky animals they study.
Impaired molecular ‘chaperone’ accompanies multiple brain changes, conditions
Rare genetic variants in a protein-folding complex contribute to a spectrum of phenotypes that encompass brain malformations, intellectual disability, autism and seizures, according to a new “hallmark” study.

Impaired molecular ‘chaperone’ accompanies multiple brain changes, conditions
Rare genetic variants in a protein-folding complex contribute to a spectrum of phenotypes that encompass brain malformations, intellectual disability, autism and seizures, according to a new “hallmark” study.
Explore more from The Transmitter
Who funds your basic neuroscience research? Help The Transmitter compile a list of funding sources
We want to hear from you about the sources of funding for your research.
Who funds your basic neuroscience research? Help The Transmitter compile a list of funding sources
We want to hear from you about the sources of funding for your research.
The future of neuroscience research at U.S. minority-serving institutions is in danger
Cuts to federally funded programs present an existential crisis for the University of Puerto Rico’s rich neuroscience community and for research at minority-serving institutions everywhere.

The future of neuroscience research at U.S. minority-serving institutions is in danger
Cuts to federally funded programs present an existential crisis for the University of Puerto Rico’s rich neuroscience community and for research at minority-serving institutions everywhere.
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.

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.