diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyxnat/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyxnat/default.nix
index 16ba6b4de94..e8956dba348 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyxnat/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/pyxnat/default.nix
@@ -1,21 +1,27 @@
 { lib
 , buildPythonPackage
-, fetchPypi
+, fetchFromGitHub
 , pythonOlder
-, nose
+, pytestCheckHook
 , lxml
+, matplotlib
+, networkx
+, pandas
 , requests
 , six
 }:
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
   pname = "pyxnat";
-  version = "1.5";
-  disabled = pythonOlder "3.7";
+  version = "1.6";
+  disabled = pythonOlder "3.8";
 
-  src = fetchPypi {
-    inherit pname version;
-    hash = "sha256-Y8mj6OfZXyE1q3C8HyVzGySuZB6rLSsL/CV/7axxaec=";
+  # PyPI dist missing test configuration files:
+  src = fetchFromGitHub {
+    owner = "pyxnat";
+    repo = "pyxnat";
+    rev = "refs/tags/${version}";
+    hash = "sha256-QejYisvQFN7CsDOx9wAgTHmRZcSEqgIr8twG4XucfZ4=";
   };
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [
@@ -30,17 +36,37 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
     substituteInPlace setup.py \
       --replace "pathlib>=1.0" "" \
       --replace "future>=0.16" ""
+    sed -i '/--cov/d' setup.cfg
   '';
 
-  nativeCheckInputs = [ nose ];
-  checkPhase = "nosetests pyxnat/tests";
-  doCheck = false;  # requires a docker container running an XNAT server
+  nativeCheckInputs = [
+    pytestCheckHook
+    matplotlib
+    networkx
+    pandas
+  ];
+  preCheck = ''
+    export PYXNAT_SKIP_NETWORK_TESTS=1
+  '';
+  pytestFlagsArray = [ "pyxnat" ];
+  disabledTestPaths = [
+    # try to access network even though PYXNAT_SKIP_NETWORK_TESTS is set:
+    "pyxnat/tests/pipelines_test.py"
+    "pyxnat/tests/search_test.py"
+    "pyxnat/tests/user_and_project_management_test.py"
+  ];
+  disabledTests = [
+    # try to access network even though PYXNAT_SKIP_NETWORK_TESTS is set:
+    "test_ashs_volumes"
+    "test_inspector_structure"
+  ];
 
   pythonImportsCheck = [ "pyxnat" ];
 
   meta = with lib; {
     homepage = "https://pyxnat.github.io/pyxnat";
     description = "Python API to XNAT";
+    changelog = "https://github.com/pyxnat/pyxnat/releases/tag/${version}";
     license = licenses.bsd3;
     maintainers = with maintainers; [ bcdarwin ];
   };