Autistic Consumer Audit of UC Davis MIND Institute’s Mutant Angelman Mice and Their Translational Value Toward the Human Autistic Experience

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Kupferstein, H., Chau, V., & Watts, C. (2023). Autistic Consumer Audit of UC Davis MIND Institute’s Mutant Angelman Mice and Their Translational Value Toward the Human Autistic Experience. Journal of Humanistic Psychology. https://doi.org/10.1177/00221678231188539

Publication date: 20 Jul 2023 Added to AutiHub: 7 Jul 2026 Type: Article Article language: English
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Authors

Publication authors
3
Publication authors identified as autistic
1 / 3 (33.3%)
  1. Henny Kupferstein
  2. Valerie Chau
  3. Courtney Watts *

Abstract

On March 10, 2022, six researchers in affiliation with the UC Davis MIND Institute published a mouse gait study in the Autism Research journal, the official journal of the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR). Our team of Autistic scientists set about conducting this consumer audit to evaluate any conflict(s) of interest between the study topic, choice of journal publication, and grant award agenda. To evaluate the impact factor of translational research, we investigated the researchers’ strident claims that genetically modified mutant Angelman syndrome mice (“AS mice models”) may contribute to the advancement of discoveries of behavioral and cognitive abnormalities in intellectually disabled and developmentally disabled (ID/DD) people, such as Autistics. As a result of our exhaustive review of both broad and narrow claims, a full retraction request is made in our recommendation to the publishers of the Autism Research journal, John Wiley & Sons. In conclusion, we strongly recommend that speculative claims about rodent models and translational research for Autism should not be considered meritorious of funding from the National Institutes of Health. Our grassroots initiative is aimed at ameliorating the damaging stereotypes within the medical pathology paradigm under which Autistic people are studied as abnormal human variants under the disease model. Finally, we ask that UC Davis’ MIND Institute cease and desist all rodent model research with the aims of investigating the pathogenic mechanism that is presumed to be underlying Autistic behavioral expression.

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These indicators describe the cited bibliography imported for this publication. Cited-reference metrics use the cited-reference total as denominator. Cited-author metrics state whether they use all cited-author occurrences or only occurrences linked to authors already integrated in the AutiHub database. They use cached links between cited authors and authors integrated in the AutiHub database. Last computed: 16 Aug 2026 11:31.

Cited references
41
Total cited references integrated for this publication.
Cited references with an identified autistic author
7 / 41 (17.1%)
Cited author occurrences identified as autistic
16 / 157 (10.2%)
Among occurrences linked to AutiHub author records: 16 / 57 (28.1%). Distinct cited authors identified as autistic: 11 / 143 (7.7%).
Cited author occurrences linked to AutiHub author records
57 / 157 (36.3%)
Distinct linked cited authors: 48 / 143 (33.6%)
Linked cited-author occurrences not identified as autistic
41 / 57 (71.9%)
Among linked cited-author occurrences only. Across all cited-author occurrences: 41 / 157 (26.1%). Distinct linked cited authors not identified as autistic: 37 / 48 (77.1%).
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