SFARI Base
SFARI Base is a central database of clinical and genetic information about families affected by autism, provided as part of the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI). At present, the database contains phenotype data from the Simons Simplex Collection. By the time recruitment ended, SFARI had recruited 2,700 families into the simplex collection. You can review the list of instruments used in the SSC. For additional information about the collection, please review the Researcher Welcome Packet.
Parallel genome-wide scans of the collection are being carried out by Mike Wigler at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York (using a NimbleGen platform) and Matthew State at Yale University (using an Illumina platform). Their findings will be incorporated into future data distributions as they become available.
Approximately 4,000 to 6,000 phenotypic data points are available for each SSC family; these variables are defined in the available Data Dictionary. SFARI Base Variable Search is a tool that is available to all researchers who wish to explore the Simons Simplex Collection dataset prior to submitting an application. It is designed to assist researchers in identifying variables of interest to their research.
Researchers who are interested in the dataset are encouraged to use this tool to become familiar with the variables that are available. All information related to phenotype data and biological materials has been de-identified, i.e., recorded in such a manner that subjects cannot be identified, directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects (see CFR 45 Part 46.101(b)). The Institutional Review Protocol governing this collection is available, as is an example of a consent form used at one of the collection sites.
This collection is publicly available to researchers through an application process.
