A gene tied to autism and language impairment is crucial for the early development and migration of inhibitory interneurons, according to research presented Monday at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago.

New pharmacological and behavioral interventions can reverse characteristics of autism in a mouse model of the disorder, according to unpublished results presented in poster sessions today at the Society for Neuroscience meeting.

National Institutes of Health director Francis Collins talks about the agency’s upcoming plans for “beefing up” autism research, including more than $100 million each year in grants for the field.

Adolescents who carry certain common variants in a gene associated with autism — whether they have the disorder or not — show abnormal connectivity between brain regions, according to unpublished data presented at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago.

Two variants in a gene needed for the cell’s energy balance may protect the carriers from autism, according to an unpublished study presented today at the Society for Neuroscience meeting in Chicago.

Mice missing FKBP12, a gene involved in a cancer pathway, show repetitive behavior and an impaired ability to socialize with other mice, and could be used to study autism, according to unpublished results presented at a poster session today at the Society for Neuroscience meeting.

Tracy Bale, associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Pennsylvania, talks about what she calls her “big soapbox issue”: the fallacious idea of a true animal model for a human psychiatric disease — and the pitfalls of over-interpreting rodent behavior.

Proteins associated with autism mediate the growth of spiny neuronal projections, called dendrites, that form brain circuits in early life, according to unpublished research presented today at the Society for Neuroscience meeting.

Interested more in ideas than in dominating a crowded field, Michael Wigler decided to apply his expertise in cancer genetics to studying poorly understood features of autism.

A team of British researchers has garnered some of the first genetic evidence supporting their theory that sex hormones play a role in the development of autism.