Autism in Biological News

Further gene mutations linked to autism risk

Pieces in the complex autism inheritance puzzle are emerging in the latest study from a research team including geneticists from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP). The study identified 27 different genetic regions where rare copy n...

MSU lands $2.1 million grant to take part in national autism study

EAST LANSING, Mich. Michigan State University has been awarded a three-year, $2.1 million federal grant to serve as the data coordinating center for the largest epidemiological study ever on autism. MSU's Biomedical Research Informatics Core, established in 2001 and now part of the university'...

First neuroimaging study examining motor execution in children with autism reveals new insights

(Baltimore, MD) In the first neuroimaging study to examine motor execution in children with autism, researchers at the Kennedy Krieger Institute have uncovered important new insight into the neurological basis of autism. The study, published online in the journal Brain 's April 23 Brain Advanced...

USC researchers identify gene variant associated with both autism and gastrointestinal dysfunction

A study led by researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) and Vanderbilt University have identified a specific gene variant that links increased genetic risk for autism with gastrointestinal (GI) conditions. The findings suggest that disrupted signaling of the MET gene may contr...

Study shows California's autism increase not due to better counting, diagnosis

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) A study by researchers at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute has found that the seven- to eight-fold increase in the number children born in California with autism since 1990 cannot be explained by either changes in how the condition is diagnosed or counted and the trend shows ...

The first autism disease genes

The autistic disorder, a neurodevelopmental disease first described in 1943, represents a challenge for treatment and a puzzle for research. Alongside Asperger syndrome, a milder form of the disorder, autism is classified in the continuum of various Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), all of which ar...

Kids with autism may have gene that causes muscle weakness

CHICAGO Some kids with autism may have a genetic defect that affects the muscles, according to research that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology 60th Anniversary Annual Meeting in Chicago, April 1219, 2008. The study looked at 37 children with autism spectrum disorders who w...

Autism Speaks collaborates on grant with the Allen Institute for Brain Science and autism expert

NEW YORK, NY (April 2, 2008) Autism Speaks, the nations largest autism advocacy organization along with the Allen Institute for Brain Science and one of the countrys leading autism researchers will join forces on a new research grant that will examine the architecture of the autistic brain. Led b...

New studies on schizophrenia, depression, trauma and autism highlight annual meeting

WHAT: The 2007 American College of Neuropsychopharmacology Annual Meeting will feature hundreds of new studies on brain and behavior from the worlds leading scientists. Presentations include innovative research on potential new treatments for depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, autism a...

Largest study to investigate risk factors of autism to begin enrolling families

OAKLAND, Calif., November 14, 2007 Researchers from Kaiser Permanente and the California Department of Public Health, as well as from five other sites nationwide, today will begin enrolling families in the largest study to date investigating the genetic and environmental factors that may cause au...

Simons Foundation awards Emory scientists $3M for autism gene research

The Simons Foundation has awarded scientists at Emory University School of Medicine a three-year grant of more than $3 million to uncover genes on the X chromosome that may contribute to the development of autism. Stephen T. Warren, PhD, chair of the Emory Department of Human Genetics, is princ...

Rutgers Genetics receives $7.8 million for autism research

The Simons Foundation, through its Autism Research Initiative, has signed a $7.8 million, two-year contract with the Rutgers University Cell and DNA Repository (RUCDR) to establish a collection of DNA samples for autism studies. The samples will be collected from 2,000 families that have a single ...

Children with autism don't adapt as readily to unfamiliar faces

The findings, from a study conducted by researchers at the Universities of Bristol, Florence, and Western Australia, might help to explain some of the core social deficits associated with the disorder. The faces we see in the world seem to be unconsciously coded in the brain as points in a f...

Autism Speaks funds $5 million to studies on genetic and environmental risk factors for autism

NEW YORK, NY (February 26,2009) Autism Speaks, the nation's largest autism science and advocacy organization, today announced that it has committed $5 million to investigate genetic and environmental risk factors for autism. The project will expand and link two large-scale, multi-site studies fo...

Rice University study finds possible clues to epilepsy, autism

Rice University researchers have found a potential clue to the roots of epilepsy, autism, schizophrenia and other neurological disorders. While studying the peripheral nerves of the Drosophila, aka the fruit fly, Rice doctoral student Eric Howlett discovered an unanticipated connection between ...

UNC expands brain imaging study of infants at risk for autism

A study led by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill researchers using brain imaging of infants to examine changes in their brains and behavior that may mark the onset of autistic symptoms is being substantially expanded after receiving an additional $3.25 million in funding. The Infant B...

Researchers find link between nicotine addiction and autism

COLUMBUS, Ohio Scientists have identified a relationship between two proteins in the brain that has links to both nicotine addiction and autism. The finding has led to speculation that existing drugs used to curb nicotine addiction might serve as the basis for potential therapies to alleviate the...

Unusual use of toys in infancy a clue to later autism

(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) Researchers at the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute have found that infants later diagnosed with autism exhibited unusual exploration of objects long before being diagnosed. Studying a group of children at high risk for developing autism, the researchers found that those eventuall...

Researchers study facial structures, brain abnormalities to reveal formula for detection of autism

COLUMBIA, Mo. Recently, Harvard researchers reported that children with autism have a wide range of genetic defects, making it nearly impossible to develop a simple genetic test to identify the disorder. Now, University of Missouri researchers are studying 3-D imaging to reveal correlations in th...

UT Health Science Center researchers study diet and autism

HOUSTON-(Aug. 7, 2008)Researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston have embarked on one of the first double-blind, clinical studies to determine whether gluten and dairy products play a role in autistic behavior as parents have anecdotally claimed. The pilot study is o...

UNC, Caltech research finds further evidence for genetic contribution to autism

CHAPEL HILL Some parents of children with autism evaluate facial expressions differently than the rest of us and in a way that is strikingly similar to autistic patients themselves, according to new research by psychiatrist Dr. Joe Piven of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and neu...

Researchers link early stem cell mutation to autism

La Jolla, Calif., June 30, 2008--In a breakthrough scientific study published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , scientists at the Burnham Institute for Medical Research have shown that neural stem cell development may be linked to Autism. The study demonstrated that m...

Researchers move 2 steps closer to understanding genetic underpinnings of autism

Todays issue of the American Journal of Human Genetics (AJHG), describes what might be a corner piece of the autism puzzlethe identification and subsequent validation of a gene linked to the development of autism by three separate groups of scientists. An accompanying commentary by Dr. Dietrich St...

Recurrent genetic deletion linked to autism

Loss of a small portion of chromosome 16, known as 16p11.2, is significantly associated with autism report researchers from the University of Chicago Medical Center, the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in an article, published Dec. 21, 2007, online by the j...

New studies suggest brain overgrowth in 1-year-olds linked to development of autism

Boca Raton, FL, December 8, 2007 Brain overgrowth in the latter part of an infants first year may contribute to the onset of autistic characteristics, according to research presented today at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology (ACNP) annual meeting. These findings support concurrent ...

Study finds first-ever genetic animal model of autism

Boca Raton, FL, December 8, 2007 By introducing a gene mutation in mice, investigators have created what they believe to be the first accurate model of autism not associated with a broader neuropsychiatric syndrome, according to research presented at the American College of Neuropsychopharmacolog...

A frown or a smile? Children with autism can't discern

When we have a conversation with someone, we not only hear what they say, we see what they say. Eyes can smolder or twinkle. Gazes can be direct or shifty. “Reading?these facial expressions gives context and meaning to the words we hear. In a report to be presented May 5 at the International Meet...

'The eyes have it' -- Autism research yields surprising results

Autistic children are able to interpret the mental state of others by looking at their eyes, contrary to previous research, a new University of Nottingham study has found. In findings that contradict previous studies, psychologists found that autistic children can ‘read?a stranger’s mental state ...

Mutant mice show key autism traits

While the causes of autism remain complex and mysterious, researchers are steadily adding pieces to its intricate puzzle. In what they believe to be a significant new approach to understanding "autism spectrum disorders" (ASD), researchers have developed a mouse that shows abnormal social interacti...

Key to early diagnosis of autism may be in the placenta

Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have discovered in the placenta what may be the earliest marker for autism, possibly helping physicians diagnose the condition at birth, rather than the standard age of two or older. The findings are reported in the June 26 online issue of Biological Psychi...

Utah researchers confirm chromosome may harbor autism gene

Using technology that allows DNA from thousands of genes to be collected and surveyed on a 3 x 1½-inch chip, University of Utah medical researchers have confirmed that a region on a single chromosome probably harbors a gene that causes autism. The researchers at the U School of Medicine made the fi...

UCLA imaging study of children with autism finds broken mirror neuron system

New imaging research at UCLA detailed Dec. 4 as an advance online publication of the journal Nature Neuroscience shows children with autism have virtually no activity in a key part of the brain's mirror neuron system while imitating and observing emotions. Mirror neurons fire when a person perfor...

Complex gene interactions account for autism risk

Using a novel analysis of the interactions among related genes, Duke University Medical Center researchers have uncovered some of the first evidence that complex genetic interactions account for autism risk. The Duke team found that the brain mechanism that normally stops or slows nerve impulses co...

Researchers reveal structure of protein altered in autism

As a result of mapping the structure of the protein complex implicated in autism spectrum disorders, a research team led by scientists at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences has discovered how particular genetic mutations affect this...

Researchers develop 'brain-reading' methods

...way for earlier diagnosis and better treatment of mental disorders, such as autism and schizophrenia, by offering a means for identifying very subtle abnormal...h the study of such mental disorders as attention-deficit hyperactivity and autism and to produce a handbook for many of the new tools used for pattern analys...

Genetic marker linked to problem behaviors in adults with developmental disabilities

... The same MAOA variation has also been linked to autism in children, autism severity and communication problems. The researche...ors linked to this variation may explain increased autism severity in individuals with it. It is not, howeve...

Measuring intellectual disability

...agile X syndrome]." "Such domains include not only autism and autism spectrum disorders, but also developmental delay, ...leles can also involve developmental delays and/or autism spectrum disorders." In future studies, Dr. Hagerm...

UC Davis researchers visualize formation of a new synapse

...O, Calif.) A protein called neuroligin that is implicated in some forms of autism is critical to the construction of a working synapse, locking neurons toget... is only recently that a link between the two synapse-forming molecules and autism has been recognized, McAllister said. Lead study author and UC Davis pos...

Capturing the birth of a synapse

...ligin family members (3 and 4) have been linked to autism in the last decade. "Chemical synapses are the ...rities can lead to developmental disorders such as autism and mental retardation, and they may contribute to...1 in every 150 American children, according to the autism Society of America. The new window opened by Wa...

Preclinical work shows how one gene causes severe mental retardation

...eeing reorganizes the visual cortex, for example, during the same time period when the deficits are becoming obvious in Angelman syndrome, part of the autism spectrum of disorders. "We wanted to look at an animal model to learn if this experience-dependent reorganization of the cortex was abnormal in a...