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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Author

Katie Moisse

News Editor

Katie Moisse is a science journalist based in Hamilton, Ontario. She also teaches science communication at McMaster University. She has a Ph.D. in neuropathology from the University of Western Ontario and an M.S. in journalism from Columbia University.

Contact Info

[email protected]

August 2021
Mom and toddler with audio recording device

Video: Wearable sensors pick up early signs of autism

by  /  30 August 2021

Audio and motion-sensor recordings offer a remote window into a baby’s first years and make it easier for families to participate in research.

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April 2021
VItamin and probiotic supplements float in space with food colored pink and green on black

The gut’s connection to autism

by  /  21 April 2021

Autistic children are up to four times as likely as their non-autistic peers to have digestive problems, and several small studies show they may also have atypical microbial communities living in their guts.

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May 2018
Blood vessels seen at magnification.

Human ‘mini-brains’ make themselves at home in mice

by  /  23 May 2018

Spheres of brain cells derived from people and implanted into mouse brains recruit blood vessels and integrate with mouse neurons.

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November 2017
jumping mouse in the wild

Drug cocktail curbs repetitive jumping in mice

by  /  15 November 2017

A trio of drugs eases repetitive behaviors in mice by activating a brain region involved in motor control.

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Mapping the connections between brain regions in mice can reveal which ones are strengthened by a drug.

Mouse imaging study hints at how fragile X drug trial went wrong

by  /  15 November 2017

The drug mavoglurant has no effect on a brain circuit involved in social behavior in a mouse model of fragile X syndrome. That may explain its poor performance in people with the condition.

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Microglia (white), the brain’s resident immune cells, have been implicated in autism.

Maternal asthma alters immune cells in fetal brain

by  /  14 November 2017

Mouse pups exposed to an immune response in the womb show autism-like behaviors and altered gene expression in brain cells called microglia.

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ett syndrome drugs are unlikely to affect all neurons in the brain in the same way.

Rett syndrome mutation’s effects vary by cell type

by  /  14 November 2017

Mutations in the Rett syndrome gene MECP2 have different effects on subtypes of neurons.

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Organoids derived from fetal bone recapitulate brain development over the first 16 weeks of gestation.

‘Mini-brains’ mirror fetal brain development

by  /  14 November 2017

Spheres of brain cells derived from a fetal skull have gene expression patterns similar to those in brain tissue from the same fetus.

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Neurons called place cells light up when a mouse reaches a specific point along a 25-foot-long track.

Wireless Miniscope ties seizures to spatial memory problems

by  /  13 November 2017

A wireless miniature microscope lets researchers peer into the brains of mice as they run along a 25-foot track.

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Stem cells derived from an individual’s skin can become neurons with her unique genetic makeup.

Brain cells spun from skin point to subtypes of autism

by  /  12 November 2017

Neurons derived from people with a syndromic form of autism look and behave differently than do those from people with classic autism.

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