The National Institutes of Health just awarded $50million to 13 different research sites to better understand genetic and environmental contributions to an autism diagnosis, or increase in prevalence in autism, as well as environmental factors which improve the quality of life for children and adults with ASD.

You can read about them here or listen to this 30 minute podcast which summarizes them.

https://dpcpsi.nih.gov/autism-data-science-initiative/funded-research

In an effort to better understand the causes of autism in those with a known genetic variant associated with ASD or other developmental disorders, in 2010, the Simons Foundation launched Simons VIP, now known as  Simons Searchlight – an online international research program studying nearly 200 rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorders and working with over 60 patient advocacy groups across these conditions. 

Since its inception, it has grown to not just study specific genes, but to provide de-identified aggregate data to researchers & industry, support for patient advocacy groups to bring together families & researchers (thanks to the generosity of the Simons Foundation), identify even more genes associated with autism, and create international communities. 

These communities share similar underlying mechanisms even though there are sixty genes represented within Simons Searchlight. This week is a conversation with the principal investigator of Simons Searchlight, Dr. Wendy Chung, talks about why genes associated with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders are so important to study, what the scientific community has learned, and how Patient Advocacy Groups have grown and flourished as a result of this understanding.

If you are having problems accessing a genetic test, here are some tips

As the autistic brain ages, is it more vulnerable to other brain disorders? Recent scientific discoveries in Parkinson’s Disease and Alzheimer’s Disease show that there may be an underlying mechanism between these diseases and autism. However diagnosing someone with autism with an additional brain disorder, especially dementia, can be difficult. This week’s podcast covers the increased risk of Parkinson’s Disease in autism, as well as provides advice from a group of experts on how to diagnose an autistic person with dementia, since there may be overlap in features.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/2834684?guestAccessKey=4961ce0b-24e8-412a-b1cc-35fc5826fbe1&utm_source=fbpage&utm_medium=social_jamaneur&utm_term=17468134139&utm_campaign=article_alert&linkId=837634061

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12144002

This week’s podcast includes summaries from two new scientific studies (with comments from one of the studies’ authors @SimonsFoundation and @princetonPPH) about that tackle grouping and labeling the differences across the spectrum into meaningful subtypes. Both provide scientific evidence, including behavioral and biological data, that support the use of different labels. This is more evidence that lumping everyone into one unitary “autism” diagnosis is not meaningful or biologically accurate, and that using computer-driven approaches, different behavioral subtypes map onto behavioral features. This supports approaches that more clearly describe different types of autism for better supports.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40651720

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-025-02224-z

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2451902224003793?via%3Dihub

Two therapies that are meant to alter brainwave activity, called Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation are receiving a lot of attention for potential efficacy in treating autism. They are non-invasive, which means treatment is provided on the scalp. While results vary, the overall evidence does not support these two interventions in helping to treat core autism features. However, as TMS is approved for depression and OCD, people should ask their doctors about these potential treatments if they suffer from these conditions. Learn more in the articles below:

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00787-024-02635-z

Click to access nihms-1934887.pdf

https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article-abstract/34/13/8/7661139?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false

It happens every year – this one belonged in the 2024 year end highlights but was published late in the year. Researchers at UCSD, UCLA and CHLA followed families with autism whose genetic test revealed a rare variant. Did it make a difference in care? Understanding? Referrals? If you are in need of a genetic test, here are some things to know: https://www.alliancegenda.org/genetic-testing

Reference here: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1098360024002673

This year’s progress in autism research includes promising findings, clarifications, explanations, and the uncovering of new avenues of inquiry. The focus is now on personalized medicine: finding the right treatment for the right person at the right time through targeted interventions. Advances in technology and genetic testing are opening new avenues for therapeutics, rapid drug testing, and improved differentiation of subgroups of autism.

….or at a podcast with at least an attempt at an explanation of what synaptic density is and how it is affected in brains of people with autism. This week we review three convergent lines of evidence – whole brain, brain cell then genes within those brain cells – that show that the autistic brain has a decrease in cell-to-cell communication in multiple brain regions, leading to social communication impairments.

https://www.science.org/doi/pdf/10.1126/science.adh2602?casa_token=bjtbuFi5U88AAAAA:_ffcE-pGCPxh4re24ix_xDgenAS1cAgDHLIMJJQCCG_1LvxaJKrGwEb9LFuMNsTYhvtGqRwro1A1Smc

https://academic.oup.com/cercor/article-abstract/34/13/121/7661138?redirectedFrom=fulltext&login=false#no-access-message

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39367053

This week, part 1 in cultural stigma around autism with Mia Kotikovski provides an overview of stigma, where it can come from across cultures and provides some examples of stigma in different countries. Different areas of the world are in different places in terms of their perceptions of autism, their needs for autism families, and what they perceive as their greatest difficulties. The topic is so important we broke it down into two sections. Please listen to both, it will explain a lot about autism services and supports around the world.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1362361318823550

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8992913

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11303671

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11303671

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30248583

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38507392

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/277816405_A_Cross-Cultural_Comparison_of_Knowledge_and_Stigma_Associated_with_Autism_Spectrum_Disorder_Among_College_Students_in_Lebanon_and_the_United_States?enrichId=rgreq-97b7d5f50aac4d5b124ea8295b42fdb0-XXX&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3NzgxNjQwNTtBUzoyNDI4NTI2Mzk4NDIzMDRAMTQzNDkxMTk4OTI3MA%3D%3D&el=1_x_3&_esc=publicationCoverPdf

In the first of a two-part series on digestive health in ASD, Mia Kotikovski summarizes scientific information about what the complicated microbiome is, how it influences physical and psychiatric health, if it is altered in autism, and what causes it to be different in ASD.