Children born to women who develop diabetes during the first or second trimester of pregnancy increase their risk of autism by 42 percent.

Mutations in MeCP2, which cause Rett syndrome, boost the expression of long genes in the brain. The findings add to mounting evidence linking long genes to developmental disorders.

The genetic makeup of an individual plays much a bigger role than environmental factors in whether he or she develops autism, according to one of the largest twin studies to date.

Missing a swath of chromosome 16 with strong ties to autism disrupts proteins crucial for early brain development. The findings open the door to targeted interventions.

A 20-minute test enlists parents in gauging a toddler’s social development by showing them a video of how a typically developing child acts.

Increasing parental age accounted for just 2.7 percent of the rise in autism prevalence between 1994 and 2001, according to a study of New York City families published 17 March in Maternal and Child Health Journal.

Newly developed microscopic beads give cells unique barcodes based on the cells’ gene expression patterns. This faster and cheaper system could help researchers study autism in cultured cells.

A new study is the first rigorous test of a controversial idea: that the everyday interactions between caregiver and child can shape the course of autism.

Scientists peel back the layers of genetic complexity in autism, starting with the master regulator CHD8.
 

A new method allows researchers to extract chromatin — the DNA-protein complex that helps to regulate gene expression — from tissue samples weighing as little as 1 milligram.