Tracy Bale, associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, talks about what she calls her “big soapbox issue”: the fallacious idea of a true animal model for a human psychiatric disease — and the pitfalls of over-interpreting rodent behavior.

Proteins associated with autism mediate the growth of spiny neuronal projections, called dendrites, that form brain circuits in early life, according to unpublished research presented today at the Society for Neuroscience meeting.

It’s that time of year again — fall foliage, plump pumpkins and, if you’re a neuroscientist, the mad, mobbed scenes at the Society for Neuroscience (SFN) annual meeting.

Small, common variations in MeCP2 can subtly affect brain structure even in normal individuals, according to a study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

A detailed genetic scan of families with autism has found a region on chromosome 5 that is strongly associated with autism, and two new genomic areas that may harbor rare variants relevant to the disorder, according to a study in Nature.

Small chromosomal changes found in about one percent of children with autism may manifest themselves as different neurological or psychiatric conditions in other individuals, according to a new study by Canadian researchers.

Older women are much more likely to have a child with autism than are older men, according to a controversial report published in the September issue of the American Journal of Public Health.

A new molecular screen allows researchers to determine for the first time the precise amounts of FMRP protein, whose absence in the brain causes fragile X syndrome.

Scientists have linked a person’s social ability with the strength of a specific connection between two areas deep within the brain.

Many autism researchers began studying the disorder after a loved one’s diagnosis, but some struggle with the decision to enroll their children in studies.