eLife

Latest preprint reviews

1. A Rare Nestin-Expressing Granule Cell Precursor Subpopulation Underlies SHH Medulloblastoma Formation

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Salsabiel El Nagar
   2. Yinwen Liang
   3. Daniel N. Stephen
   4. Synphen H. Wu
   5. Alexandra L. Joyner

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     **eLife Assessment
     **
     In this valuable study, the authors identified a rare population of Nestin-expressing cells within the external granule layer of the early postnatal mouse cerebellum. They demonstrated that these cells are distinct from Sox2+ progenitors and can give rise to medulloblastoma. Collectively, the findings provide convincing evidence that this unique Nestin+ population is susceptible to oncogenic transformation and may underlie the preferential emergence of Sonic hedgehog-driven medulloblastomas.

   Reviewed by eLife

2. Combinatorial transcription factor interactions drive modular gene regulatory networks

   This article has 10 authors:

   1. Jialei Duan
   2. Boxun Li
   3. Kartik Kulkarni
   4. Gabriela Orquera-Tornakian
   5. Daryl Barth
   6. Lei Wang
   7. Vrushali Pandit
   8. Joel Liou
   9. Nikhil V Munshi
   10. Gary C Hon

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This study offers a large-scale resource that maps the transcriptional landscape following combinatorial transcription factor overexpression. The authors propose a modular framework for understanding gene regulatory networks and identify transcription factor cocktails for cellular reprogramming. While the dataset and proposed principles are valuable, the strength of the evidence is incomplete, in part due to the complexity of the computational analyses and limited orthogonal experimental validation. The study will be of interest to the fields of gene regulation and developmental biology.

   Reviewed by eLife

3. Virtual reality reveals fine-scale alterations in behaviour following loss of the ADHD-linked gene adgrl3.1 in zebrafish

   This article has 5 authors:

   1. Phoebe Reynolds
   2. Emily Read
   3. Caitlin Daly-East
   4. Matthew O Parker
   5. Robert Hindges

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     The study presents valuable findings on early behavioral phenotypes that arise in an ADHD-associated adgrl3.1 mutant zebrafish, using a new behavioral approach with a closed-loop OMR assay. The evidence supporting the claims of the authors is solid; however, the validation of the method and analysis is incomplete and would benefit from more rigorous approaches and validation practices. This work will be of broad interest to developmental biologists and behavioral neuroscientists.

   Reviewed by eLife

4. We couldn't get details of this article at this time:
   10.64898/2026.05.25.727443

5. Flexible brain state engagement predicts cognitive control transdiagnostically

   This article has 14 authors:

   1. Jean Ye
   2. Saloni Mehta
   3. Milana Khaitova
   4. Jagriti Arora
   5. Fuyuze Tokoglu
   6. C Alice Hahn
   7. Cheryl Lacadie
   8. Abigail S Greene
   9. Marisa N Spann
   10. Gerard Sanacora
   11. Scott W Woods
   12. Vinod H Srihari
   13. R Todd Constable
   14. Dustin Scheinost

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable paper reports on a measure of flexible brain state engagement, derived from fMRI, as a predictor of cognitive control. One strength of the study is the use of external datasets for validation and replication. The results are solid, although some may benefit from further explanation.

   Reviewed by eLife

6. Rapid cortical reorganization tracks goal-directed sensorimotor learning in real time

   This article has 8 authors:

   1. Anthony Renard
   2. Georgios Foustoukos
   3. Maya Iuga
   4. Pol Bech
   5. Axel Bisi
   6. Robin F Dard
   7. Sylvain Crochet
   8. Carl CH Petersen

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study aimed to explore whether sensory representations in the cortex reorganize on the same timescale over which behavioral changes first emerge. Convincing evidence is presented to show that reward-dependent plasticity takes place in the mouse barrel cortex within a single recording session as mice learn a whisker detection task. However, the evidence supporting the authors' proposal that this rapid reorganization may involve spontaneous reactivation of neurons that gain stimulus responsiveness during training is incomplete. The work will be of interest to systems neuroscientists studying cortical circuits and learning.

   Reviewed by eLife

7. Split-trial analysis reveals the information capacity of neural population codes

   This article has 2 authors:

   1. Dylan Le
   2. Xue-Xin Wei

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study describes a simple and robust approach for estimating information-limiting noise by splitting neural populations and comparing estimator values. The authors report more accurate and robust results compared to previous methods. The evidence for the robustness of the method is currently incomplete; some concerns regarding bias need to be resolved, and additional tests need to be provided on how the number of trials and neurons affect performance.

   Reviewed by eLife

8. Structured stabilization in recurrent neural circuits through inhibitory synaptic plasticity

   This article has 3 authors:

   1. Dylan Festa
   2. Claudia Cusseddu
   3. Julijana Gjorgjieva

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This work establishes a valuable theoretical finding about how the spike timing dependence of inhibitory plasticity shapes recurrent network connectivity. The combination of theoretical analysis and simulations provides convincing evidence that effective inhibitory connectivity forms a so-called Mexican-hat profile when multiple inhibitory neuron types follow distinct learning rules. These mechanisms are thought to be implicated in the contextual modulation of neuronal responses to stimuli.

   Reviewed by eLife

9. Engulfment by brain macrophages in a short-lived vertebrate

   This article has 23 authors:

   1. Rahul Nagvekar
   2. Angela N Pogson
   3. Prateek R Kalakuntla
   4. Helena J Barr
   5. Azalia M Martínez Jaimes
   6. SV Perry
   7. Emma K Costa
   8. Jingxun Chen
   9. Felix Boos
   10. Paloma Navarro Negredo
   11. Luise A Seeker
   12. James B Jaggard
   13. Rogelio Barajas
   14. Philippe Mourrain
   15. Param Priya Singh
   16. Stephen R Quake
   17. Tony Wyss-Coray
   18. Kristy Red-Horse
   19. Beth Stevens
   20. Bo Wang
   21. Claire N Bedbrook
   22. Ravi D Nath
   23. Anne Brunet

   This article has been curated by 1 group:

   • Curated by eLife

     eLife Assessment

     This valuable study establishes a novel genetic model for chronic, in vivo visualization of protein engulfment in brain macrophages from the naturally short-lived African turquoise killifish. The solid data presented here show that brain phagocytes exhibit transcriptional features resembling mammalian border associated macrophages and monocyte derived macrophages rather than classical microglia and that their engulfment capacity declines with age, providing a resource for future studies on brain immune cells in teleosts. This research will interest a broad audience across developmental biology, genetics, neuroimmunology, aging research, and evolutionary biology.

     [Editors' note: this paper was reviewed by Review Commons.]

   Reviewed by eLife

10. foxQ2 marks fast-acting brain interneurons including a subset of dopaminergic neurons innervating mushroom bodies and central complex in the beetle Tribolium castaneum

    This article has 8 authors:

    1. Ying Pang
    2. Bastian Klußmann-Fricke
    3. Doga Cedden
    4. Jiajun Zhang
    5. Johannes B Schinko
    6. Michalis Averof
    7. Thomas Riemensperger
    8. Gregor Bucher

    This article has been curated by 1 group:

    • Curated by eLife

      eLife Assessment

      This valuable descriptive study describes the expression of a developmentally relevant transcription factor in the adult Tribolium brain. The evidence supporting the claims is convincing and based on a very detailed and rigorous analysis of light microscopy data, which, however, lacks single-cell resolution. This neuroanatomical study is of interest to the field of insect neural development and neuroscience.

    Reviewed by eLife