Doctors often conflate autism and intellectual disability, and no wonder: The biological distinction between them is murky. Scientific progress depends on knowing where the conditions intersect — and part ways.
Mice missing an autism gene called SHANK3 tend to be hypersensitive to touch, which may stem from underactivity of neurons that normally dampen sensory responses.
After a decade of working with the Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Foundation, Geraldine Bliss has co-founded a new organization to develop therapies for the condition.
Not much is known about the connection between autism and Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a condition that affects collagen. But preliminary work provides tantalizing clues.
Mouse models of two genetic conditions related to autism show abnormalities in their movement patterns.
Finding a mutation linked to autism traits can have life-changing consequences for autistic individuals and their families.
Genetic tests for people with autism are far from routine and don’t always yield results, but the information they offer can change lives.
People with mutations in SHANK3 have milder features than do those missing a chunk of DNA that includes the gene.
A new measure of motor skills suggests that insulin-like growth factor 1 improves movement in people with Phelan-McDermid syndrome.
Black parents are less likely than white parents to report concerns about autism features in their children, human brain organoids in rodent bodies raise ethical concerns, and science graduate programs in the United States have few American students.