Monkeys missing the gene SHANK3 have too few neurons in the prefrontal cortex, a brain region involved in planning and social behavior.

Autism researchers’ top priority should be shifting their focus to finding treatments for severe forms of the condition.

Families need more support from researchers in order for their heroic efforts to be optimally effective.

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Researchers have engineered two new rats with mutations in a family of genes that function at neuronal junctions, they reported today at the 2014 International Meeting for Autism Research in Atlanta.

SHANK3, a leading candidate gene for autism, helps sensory neurons in mice respond to pain.

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Mice with a genetic glitch in just one copy of SHANK3, a leading candidate gene for autism, show brain and behavioral features of the condition.

Mice with mutations in SHANK3, a leading autism candidate, may lack the neural wiring that would compel them to seek social contact.