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Spectrum: Autism Research News

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Genes

Rare or common, inherited or spontaneous, mutations form the core of autism risk.

October 2022
Woman sits on a hospital bed and looks out of a window.

Psychiatric conditions hospitalize almost one in three autistic women by age 25

by  /  31 October 2022

The findings, based on Swedish national registry data, suggest a critical need to expand mental health services for autistic people.

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New RNA tool prompts protein production in select cells

by  /  28 October 2022

The technique could be used to identify and control cells involved in autism.

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Image of a synthetic mouse embryo.

Lab-grown ‘embryoids’ offer new window into gene-trait relationships

by  /  26 October 2022

The developmental models have advantages over natural embryos and other synthetic models, such as organoids, but present technical and ethical challenges.

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Conceptual illustration of a group of brain scans.

Boosting brain power: A conversation with Damien Fair

by  /  25 October 2022

Collecting brain scans from thousands of people can be challenging in autism research; data-sharing and collaborative efforts can help drive results that stand up to statistical scrutiny.

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Illustration of an X chromosome against a black background.

X-chromosome variants help explain autism’s sex bias

by  /  24 October 2022

The rare variants are also linked to ADHD and Tourette syndrome, two other conditions that disproportionately affect boys and men.

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Jeremy Levin, chief executive officer of Ovid Therapeutics, stands against a bench in a lab.

What next for Angelman?

by  /  20 October 2022

A meeting in Texas reckons with the future of treatment, following two setbacks in 2020.

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Mouse brain slices showing the effects of SHANK2 and SHANK3 deletions.

Double SHANK knockout highlights brain circuit’s social role

by  /  19 October 2022

Mice missing the autism-linked SHANK2 and SHANK3 genes in their retrosplenial cortex have trouble distinguishing between novel and familiar mice.

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A young girl rubs her eyes in a dark room.

Autistic people at increased genetic risk of sleep problems

by  /  18 October 2022

Compared with their unaffected siblings and unrelated controls, children with autism harbor more copy number variants in genes that govern the circadian cycle or are associated with insomnia.

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Conceptual illustration of two DNA helixes with several overlapping portions showing common and differing genes.

Genome scan spots common variant differences between autism and ADHD

by  /  12 October 2022

Common variants in five regions of the genome may determine whether someone has one condition versus the other.

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Still image from a time-lapse video of neuronal development.

Gene in autism hotspot regulates neuronal migration

by  /  10 October 2022

Restoring the gene, TAOK2, in mice missing an autism-linked region of chromosome 16 normalizes neuronal movement during development.

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