Spectrum: Autism Research News

Developmental delay, intellectual disability and behavioral issues are common among people who have mutations in MYT1L, a gene with strong ties to autism.

Insurance claims data are useful for autism research, but the field needs to standardize how they are mined, Shea says.

How chemical tags called methyl groups position themselves on genetic sequences may hint at some of the causes of autism.

Deleting a copy of the gene TBX1 depletes the fatty myelin insulation that surrounds neurons and reduces cognitive speed in mice.

These short reports from Spectrum journalists highlight some of the autism-related findings that caught our attention at the meeting this past week.

Dysfunctional circuits and a rogue sodium channel in the brainstem may explain the disordered breathing pattern seen in children with Pitt-Hopkins syndrome, a form of autism.

The algorithm estimates a child’s likelihood of having autism from patterns of co-occurring conditions in electronic health records, outperforming a widely used screening test.

The postmortem brain tissue available for autism research is overwhelmingly from people of Western European heritage. Verónica Martínez-Cerdeño and her colleagues are working to change that.

Scientists should heed these differences when considering resting-state brain activity as a biomarker for autism, the researchers say.

A new resource profiles gene expression and the accessibility of DNA in single cells across the developing human cerebral cortex and may help scientists decipher the effects of noncoding mutations linked to autism.