Having an infection during pregnancy is tied to a small increase in the chances of having an autistic child, but the connection may not be causal.

A massive update to the MSSNG dataset gives qualified researchers ready access to explore autism’s genetic architecture on a cloud-based platform.

The approach could help test hypotheses about how atypical function of the brain’s immune cells contributes to autism.

The in-depth approach shows mutations in the autism-linked gene disrupt neuronal growth and communication, as well as mitochondrial gene expression.

A new method that merges tissue expansion, light-sheet microscopy and automated image segmentation can reconstruct neural circuits in about a week.

Faulty mTOR signaling, implicated in syndromic forms of autism, also hinders cells grown from people with idiopathic autism or autism-linked deletions on chromosome 16.

The method yields complex organoids that more closely mimic embryonic brain development than do those cultured in other ways.

The model enables the study of autism-linked genes at the earliest stages of neural development.

Psychiatric genomics promises to shed light on the genetic basis of autism, but it’s vital to include Africa in this research, Iyegbe and Okewole say.

The signal, called CD47, is disrupted in autistic people who have a larger-than-average head.