Like people, monkeys vary widely in their social abilities. Behavioral neuroscientist Karen Parker explains how studying social behavior in monkeys can advance how we understand and treat autism.
Analyzing the sequences of more than 20,000 people, researchers have unearthed the largest and most robust list of autism genes so far, they reported today in Nature.
Many of the genes that have emerged as the strongest autism candidates have turned out to regulate the expression of hundreds, if not thousands, of other genes. Within these networks, scientists are homing in on pathways that underlie autism.
A brain imaging study of 26 mouse models of autism reveals a broad range of structural abnormalities. The models cluster into groups with similar features, reports a study published 9 September in Molecular Psychiatry.
Drugs that activate the silent copy of the X chromosome in women may be able to undo the damage from mutations in genes located there. The study, published 2 September in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, offers hope for treating Rett syndrome and other disorders linked to the chromosome.
A new interaction-based therapy delivered by parents may improve behavior and language skills in infants with autism symptoms, suggests a small pilot study.
Adults with high-functioning autism excel at learning visual patterns, according to research published 25 August in Neuropsychology. The findings contrast with a report earlier this year that children with the disorder struggle with visual learning.
Geneticist James Noonan explains how the complex function of CHD8, the leading candidate for autism risk, points to a way to unravel the mechanisms underlying autism.
Drugs designed to treat Angelman syndrome may alleviate symptoms only if given during a ‘critical period’ early in development. That’s the upshot from unpublished results presented yesterday at a conference in Boston.
Reports of a century-old drug that reverses autism-like symptoms in mice raise key questions about the complexity of translating promising research into real treatments.