diff --git a/pkgs/development/python-modules/nibabel/default.nix b/pkgs/development/python-modules/nibabel/default.nix
index dc6b2e0668d5..9c80301ce931 100644
--- a/pkgs/development/python-modules/nibabel/default.nix
+++ b/pkgs/development/python-modules/nibabel/default.nix
@@ -1,9 +1,12 @@
-{ stdenv
+{ lib
 , buildPythonPackage
 , fetchPypi
+, isPy3k
 , numpy
-, nose
 , six
+, bz2file
+, nose
+, mock
 }:
 
 buildPythonPackage rec {
@@ -17,17 +20,24 @@ buildPythonPackage rec {
 
   propagatedBuildInputs = [
     numpy
-    nose
     six
-  ];
+  ] ++ lib.optional (!isPy3k) bz2file;
 
-  # Failing tests
-  # nibabel.tests.test_minc1.test_old_namespace
-  # nibabel.gifti.tests.test_parse_gifti_fast.test_parse_dataarrays
-  # nibabel.gifti.tests.test_giftiio.test_read_deprecated
-  doCheck = false;
+  checkInputs = [ nose mock ];
 
-  meta = with stdenv.lib; {
+  checkPhase = let
+    excludeTests = lib.optionals isPy3k [
+      # https://github.com/nipy/nibabel/issues/691
+      "nibabel.gifti.tests.test_giftiio.test_read_deprecated"
+      "nibabel.gifti.tests.test_parse_gifti_fast.test_parse_dataarrays"
+      "nibabel.tests.test_minc1.test_old_namespace"
+    ];
+  # TODO: Add --with-doctest once all doctests pass
+  in ''
+    nosetests ${lib.concatMapStrings (test: "-e '${test}' ") excludeTests}
+  '';
+
+  meta = with lib; {
     homepage = http://nipy.org/nibabel/;
     description = "Access a multitude of neuroimaging data formats";
     license = licenses.mit;