Executive Vice President's Letter
To accomplish its mission, SFARI seeks to increase the number of outstanding researchers working in the field of autism research, to provide these researchers with key resources, and to facilitate relevant scientific discourse. A primary mechanism for accomplishing the first two goals is the funding of investigator-initiated research. SFARI funds a steady state of around 100 such projects with timelines of one to three years.
Priority for funding is accorded to innovative, early-stage, potentially high-mission-impact proposals, as well as to those from outstanding investigators new to autism research. To further catalyze autism research, SFARI has recently established an Explorer Awards program, reviewing requests for small research grants on a rolling basis.
In addition to funding investigator-initiated research, SFARI has taken a lead in creating selected research platforms as a resource to the worldwide investigator community. The Simons Simplex Collection is a well-characterized collection of genotypes, phenotypes and biological specimens from 2,700 families in which only one child has been diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder. SFARI is assembling other family collections in the Simons Variation in Individuals Project; the first collection comprises families in which members have deletions or duplications of the chromosomal region 16p11.2. Other research platforms under consideration for future development, likely to be in partnership with other organizations, include tissue banks, animal models and the identification of biomarkers useful in the early testing of novel therapeutic agents. Since 2007, SFARI has provided or committed more than $200 million in external research support.
SFARI promotes scientific discourse by convening a series of workshops and investigator meetings, and through this website, SFARI.org, which offers daily coverage of emerging research findings. You can learn more about SFARI.org in a letter from Gerry Fischbach, SFARI's scientific director.
A great deal is happening in autism research. SFARI is eager to join forces with other like-minded public and private organizations, including companies, to empower the autism research community and identify new treatments for autism spectrum disorders as soon as possible.
Dennis W. Choi, M.D., Ph.D.
Executive Vice President, Simons Foundation
