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Spectrum: Autism Research News

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Profiles

Portraits of scientists who are making a mark on autism research.

Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele looks directly into the camera with a calm expression in a close up shot.

Swings and misses with Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele

by  /  30 May 2023

A careful clinician who prizes evidence, Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele is happy to embrace trial failures, as long as he learns from them.

Previous articles

January 2023
Graham Diering smiles in a portrait in his yard.

Asleep in the Mouse House with Graham Diering

by  /  12 January 2023

Memories from Diering’s life trace the rising star’s scientific path from raising lizards as a child and later exploring home brewing to heading a lab that investigates memory, sleep disturbances and early development in animals with autism-linked mutations.

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November 2022
Helen Willsey in her lab at the University of California, San Francisco.

How Helen Willsey broke new ground, frogs in hand

by  /  29 November 2022

A young researcher faces down the skeptics.

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September 2022
Noah Sasson, a thin white man, stands in a courtyard with his hands in his pockets.

Noah Sasson: Connecting with the autistic community

by  /  15 September 2022

Intentional interactions with autistic people led Sasson to refocus his research.

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David Mandell sits on the steps of a school.

How losing a parent helped shape David Mandell’s approach to autism research

by  /  6 September 2022

Autism’s “fearless” researcher takes on the big questions.

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August 2022
Scientist Gül Dölen smiles while looking towards the window in her lab's office.

In deep water with Gül Dölen

by  /  3 August 2022

A researcher’s existential crisis led to a scientific breakthrough.

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July 2022
Ann Kennedy stands against the wall of a brightly lit hallway wearing a black and red dress.

Rising star: Ann Kennedy bridges gap between biology, computational theory

by  /  26 July 2022

A theoretical neuroscientist, Kennedy uses a blend of computational modeling and real-world experiments to understand how brain activity shapes the behaviors of animals that model autism and other conditions.

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The most personalized medicine: Studying your own child’s rare condition

by  /  7 July 2022

A handful of scientists are committed to advancing research on the autism-related genetic conditions their own children have.

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May 2022
Scientist Lucia Peixoto portrait.

Rising star: Lucia Peixoto, breaking down the interplay between sleep and autism

by  /  9 May 2022

The young researcher from Uruguay uses her expertise in genetics — and discipline as a former athlete — to untangle sleep’s role in neurodevelopmental conditions, one experiment at a time.

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March 2022

Lisa Croen: Autism’s first dedicated epidemiologist

by  /  28 March 2022

Inspired by watching her autistic nephew grow up, Croen has also been an advocate for bolstering research and services for autistic adults.

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February 2022
portrait of Petrus Petrus deVries with flowering tree in background.

Petrus de Vries: Architect of the autism research field in Africa

by  /  16 February 2022

Petrus de Vries is on a quest to outfit Africa, the continent of his birth, with trained autism researchers and service providers.

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