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Spectrum: Autism Research News

Tag: SHANK3

December 2013

Drug fixes cellular defects in autism-related disorder

by  /  2 December 2013

A new stem-cell model of Phelan-McDermid syndrome points to a possible treatment for the rare autism-related disorder, according to a study published in Nature.

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November 2013

Compendium of mouse brains highlights autism’s diversity

by  /  14 November 2013

By mapping the brains of not 1 but 27 mouse models of autism, researchers are making sense of the widely divergent structural changes seen in autism brains, they reported Wednesday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

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Gut problems in autism may stem from neuronal connections

by  /  12 November 2013

Researchers have shown for the first time that glitches in a gene expressed at junctions between neurons can cause gut problems in mice. The unpublished results were presented Tuesday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

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Hormone reverses autism-like features in mouse model

by  /  11 November 2013

Insulin-like growth factor 2, a hormone involved in fetal growth, reverses abnormal social behaviors, repetitive behaviors and memory impairments in BTBR mice, a popular model of autism. The unpublished results were presented Monday at the 2013 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego.

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Where will the focus on SHANK genes lead?

by  /  11 November 2013

Geneticists react to discoveries and identify next steps for one of autism’s most promising candidate genes.

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Molecular mechanisms: Autism gene loss alters mouse cries

by  /  5 November 2013

Adult mice lacking the autism-linked gene SHANK2 emit fewer cries and do so at a lower pitch compared with controls, according to a study published 28 August in Behavioral Brain Research.

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SHANK mutations converge at neuronal junctions in autism

by ,  /  5 November 2013

SHANK3, one of the strongest candidate genes for autism, has the potential to be a molecular entry point into understanding the synaptic, developmental and circuit origins of the disorder.
 

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October 2013

Robust models

by  /  11 October 2013

Rodent models that recapitulate the core features of autism often have additional traits, leading us to ask whether these traits are integral to autism, says Elisa Hill-Yardin.

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Researchers grow large batches of neurons for drug screening

by  /  9 October 2013

Researchers have optimized the production from stem cells of large numbers of a subtype of neurons involved in cognitive function. The technique, published 20 August in Translational Psychiatry, could generate enough neurons for large-scale screening of drugs.

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July 2013
Visualization of a DNA sequence.

Study catalogs features of Phelan-McDermid syndrome

by  /  11 July 2013

The majority of people lacking a functional copy of the SHANK3 gene have both autism and severe intellectual disability, according to a study published 11 June in Molecular Autism.

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