The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) is pleased to announce that it intends to fund 15 grants in response to the 2022 Genomics of ASD: Pathways to Genetic Therapies request for applications (RFA).

Grants funded through this RFA are intended to advance our understanding of the genetic basis of ASD and the molecular and cellular consequences of genetic risk, and to provide a foundation for the development of treatments for select genetically defined forms of the condition.

Applications in response to this RFA were sought in three broad areas: (1) integrative analyses of multi-omic ASD data, (2) functional analysis of variants associated with ASD risk genes and (3) gene-targeted therapies. Proposals that span the different focus areas were encouraged, as were collaborations between academic and industry partners. Furthermore, SFARI encouraged proposals that focused on a subset of 50 genes from the SPARK gene list; these genes were selected, for a variety of different reasons, as strong candidates for the development of translational programs.

“SFARI is honored to support this group of awardees, whose research promises to not only elucidate the neurobiological pathways that are regulated by autism genes, but to also identify new therapeutic targets and strategies,” says SFARI executive vice president Kelsey Martin.

SFARI intends to provide approximately $15.7 million in funding over the next three years to 27 investigators as part of this program.

“SFARI is pleased to fund these projects under the 2023 Genomics RFA,” says SFARI senior scientist Julia Sommer. “We hope that the combination of additional insights into the genetic basis of ASDs and a better understanding of the molecular and cellular changes brought about by genetic risk factors will create a fertile ground for the development of genetically informed therapies.”

The projects that were selected for funding focus on several different risk genes and conditions, including GRIN disorders, Rett syndrome and SLC6A1-related autism disorder. A variety of different approaches and methods will be used, including high-throughput screens to ascertain the functional effects of autism variants, and the development of antisense oligonucleotide and adenoviral vector-based gene therapies.

The projects that SFARI intends to fund are:

Marta Biagioli, Ph.D. (University of Trento)
SINEUP RNAs: a new platform for treating haploinsufficiency in autism spectrum disorders (ASD)

Fikri Birey, Ph.D. (Emory University)
Uncovering phenotypic convergence across high-risk autism genes using forebrain assembloids

Arjun Krishnan, Ph.D. (University of Colorado, Denver) and Julia Ganz, Ph.D. (Michigan State University)
An integrative framework to unravel the genes, gene networks, cell types, and developmental states underlying ASD-associated GI dysfunction

Soo-Kyung Lee, Ph.D. (University at Buffalo)
Development of therapeutics for FOXG1 syndrome using patient-specific human iPSC and mouse models

Jingjing Li, Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley), Arnold Kriegstein, M.D., Ph.D. (University of California, San Francisco), Michael Snyder, Ph.D. (Stanford University) and Mohan Babu, Ph.D. (University of Regina)
High-resolution proteome mapping in the developing human cerebral cortex to uncover mutationally convergent pathways in autism spectrum disorders

Matthew MacDonald, Ph.D. (University of Pittsburgh), Bernie Devlin, Ph.D. (University of Pittsburgh) and Kathryn Roeder, Ph.D.
Putting genes associated with autism in their neurobiological context by transcriptomic and proteomic analyses

Randall Platt, Ph.D. (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Switzerland)
High-throughput precision gene editing and multi-omics profiling of patient-specific CHD8 variants in human-derived stem cells and induced neurons

Elise Robinson, Sc.D. (Massachusetts General Hospital), Luke O’Connor, Ph.D. (Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard), Michael Talkowski, Ph.D. (Massachusetts General Hospital) and Kaitlin Samocha, Ph.D. (Massachusetts General Hospital)
Identifying functionally convergent genetic factors associated with autism

Yufeng Shen, Ph.D. (Columbia University Medical Center), Brian O’Roak, Ph.D. (Oregon Health & Science University) and Jacob Michaelson, Ph.D. (University of Iowa)
Triangulation of missense variant impact through multimodal modeling and functional assays

Max Staller, Ph.D. (University of California, Berkeley)
Functionally characterizing genetic variants in the activation domains of ASD-associated transcription factors

Michael F. Wells, Ph.D. (University of California, Los Angeles)
Cell village-based detection of shared molecular and cellular defects across autism risk factors

Anne West, M.D., Ph.D. (Duke University School of Medicine)
Orchestration of synaptic gene regulation by H3K27me3-dependent modulation of chromatin architecture

Hyejung Won, Ph.D. (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), Kristen Brennand, Ph.D. (Yale University) and Nan Yang, Ph.D. (Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai)
Determining how rare and common variants interact and contribute to risk for autism

Timothy Yu, M.D., Ph.D. (Boston Children’s Hospital)
Piloting gene- and mutation-specific ASO therapies for ASD

Zhaolan (Joe) Zhou, Ph.D. (Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania)
Understanding the epigenetic contribution to autism