Amyloid-beta, the small protein that forms plaques in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease, is more prevalent in postmortem brains from individuals with autism than in those from controls, according to a study published 2 May in PLoS One.

The gene missing or mutated in Rett syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder, is critical for the survival of adult mice, according to a study published 31 May in Human Molecular Genetics.

A new approach allows researchers to visualize individual neurons in the small, clear brains of larval zebrafish as they interact with their surroundings, according to a study published 9 May in Nature.

An analysis of large duplications and deletions of DNA has identified new candidate genes for autism in pathways linked to the disorder. The results were published 22 May in Human Molecular Genetics.

Rare variants make up the vast majority of human genetic variation, according to two independent papers published in May in Science. That means that genetic studies of complex diseases such as autism are likely to require tens of thousands of participants.

New tools developed as part of the Human Microbiome Project could help researchers understand the role of microbes in autism.

Men with a common autism-linked variant of CD38, a gene that regulates levels of the ‘trust hormone’ oxytocin, benefit more from the hormone than do those with other variants, according to a study published in the May issue of Neuropsychopharmacology.

A freezer malfunction that damaged a third of the largest collection of autism brain tissue points to the dire need for more donations, a better system for eliciting them, and a coordinated effort for storing and distributing tissue.

Luca Santarelli, head of neuroscience at Roche, explains why he is optimistic that pharmaceutical companies can overcome the obstacles in autism drug development.

Using functional magnetic resonance imaging, researchers have for the first time identified brain regions activated by joint attention, the process in which two people direct their attention to the same object, person or topic of conversation. The findings appeared 16 April in Human Brain Mapping.