Memories from Diering’s life trace the rising star’s scientific path from raising lizards as a child and later exploring home brewing to heading a lab that investigates memory, sleep disturbances and early development in animals with autism-linked mutations.

The method yields complex organoids that more closely mimic embryonic brain development than do those cultured in other ways.

A range of presentations at Neuroscience 2022 tie atypical social behavior to trouble discriminating between odors in the animals.

Mice missing the autism-linked SHANK2 and SHANK3 genes in their retrosplenial cortex have trouble distinguishing between novel and familiar mice.

Mice with a mutated copy of SHANK3 fail to establish normal sleep patterns during development.

Sleep disruption early in life has long-lasting consequences for mice missing a copy of the autism-linked gene SHANK3.

By breaking rodent vocalizations into parts, TrackUSF distinguishes rats with mutations in the SHANK3 gene from their wildtype counterparts.

Therapies that target the circuit could boost social activity, new findings suggest.

Even temporary bouts of too little non-REM sleep can lead to long-term changes in how the animals respond to certain social situations, new research suggests.

ADNP and SHANK3 proteins may bind together and alter a neuron’s internal scaffold, hinting at a mechanism that, when disrupted, may underlie several forms of autism.