Spectrum: Autism Research News

A growing body of research suggests that microglia, traditionally known as the brain’s clean-up crew, may have other important functions in the brain.

  In 2011, we published just under 500 articles, on topics ranging from complex neuroimaging techniques to the interest some children with autism show in comic books. We tackled these topics in all different formats: full-length news reports with quotes from experts to add context, brief research highlights and provocative, playful blog posts. Likewise, some […]

According to the Chinese calendar, 2011 is the year of the rabbit. But in autism research, it proved resoundingly to be the year of the rodent. In the timeline below are 17 of the mouse and rat models that debuted over the past year. Moving the vertical bar on the left side of the timeline […]

The past year saw the publication of many groundbreaking papers on autism, making our task of picking just ten a particularly arduous one. Below is a chronological list of just some of the papers, selected by SFARI staff. In his essay, SFARI scientific director Gerald Fischbach describes his thoughts on the list. 1. Study finds high […]

<< Previous Next >> Brain bursts Optogenetics allows scientists to precisely control the activity in subsets of neurons using light. When researchers used the technique in mice to increase the activity of excitatory neurons (shown here in the lower image) in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in social behavior, the animals stopped interacting […]

Wouldn’t it be nice to have a crystal ball and see what 2012 has in store for autism research? We may not have one of those, but we have the next best thing: access to some of the brightest minds in the field. Here’s what they foresee happening next year.