BOSTON OCTOBER 22, 2007 The Autism Consortium, a group of researchers, clinicians and families dedicated to radically accelerating research and enhancing clinical care for autism, announced today that it has completed the first genome scan for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) through its Autism Gene Discovery Project and has released the reference data set to a database that autism researchers around the world can use. The scan was conducted using new, high resolution technology developed by Affymetrix on genetic data from more than 3,000 children with ASD and their families.
Todays release of genetic and phenotypic data on autism marks a significant achievement for the autism research community, said Thomas Insel, Ph.D., Director of the National Institute for Mental Health. Progress in finding the causes and cures for autism spectrum disorders rests in large part on improving the rapid access and sharing of data and resources That the Consortium is making the data available to the scientific community even before its own researchers have fully analyzed the information, demonstrates their high degree of commitment to and leadership in advancing autism research.
Along with complementary data generated by Dr. Aravinda Chakravarti at Johns Hopkins and provided to the NIMH this week, these data provide the most detailed look to date at the genetic variation patterns in families with autism.
Mark Daly, PhD, a Consortium member with the Center for Human Genetic Research at Massachusetts General Hospital and a senior associate member of the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard, released genetic data from genome wide scans of DNA variation collected from 3,000 individuals who are either affected by autism spectrum disorders, or are family members of individuals with autism. DNA samples for this scan were provided by the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE), a program of Autism Speaks, dedicated to ac
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| Contact: Kathryn Morris kathryn@kmorrispr.com 845-635-9828 The Autism Consortium Source:Eurekalert |