Mark Johnson is professor of psychology and associate director of the Centre for Cognitive & Brain Development at Birkbeck University of London, and chair of experimental psychology and head of the Department of Psychology at the University of Cambridge.
The younger siblings of children diagnosed with autism are at an increased risk for autism themselves. By studying these at-risk babies, we can better understand the development of the condition and this, in turn, may lead to more effective early treatments. It remains challenging, however, to study brain function in a safe and effective way in young babies. Mark Johnson and his colleagues at the University of London have been developing a new method of brain imaging called functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS), which involves weak beams of light that are absorbed differently in active vs. inactive parts of the brain.
In November, the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) launched a request for applications, calling for letters of intent from individuals who will conduct bold, imaginative and rigorous research relevant to our mission. Applicants received notice in late February indicating whether they should submit a full application. Here, John Spiro, SFARI’s senior associate director for research, attempts to demystify the grant-making process — and give readers a behind-the-scenes look at how SFARI’s science team makes decisions.
Paul Lipkin is the director of the Department of Medical Informatics and principal investigator of the Interactive Autism Network (IAN) at the Kennedy Krieger Institute and an associate professor of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Sandeep Robert Datta describes a combined 3D computer vision/machine-learning method that identifies behavioral modules expressed by freely behaving mice.
Motor development is an early behavioral domain that shows significant heritability and may have links with the development of autism. In the current project, Angelica Ronald and Mark Johnson seek to investigate these links further through initial gene discovery work on early motor development followed by state-of-the-art analyses testing for overlap in the common genetic architecture between motor development and autism.
Individuals with 16p11.2 syndrome, a disorder caused by a deletion or duplication of a section of chromosome 16, exhibit a broad variety of motor abnormalities, including clumsiness, poor coordination, hypotonia (decreased muscle tone) and tremor, as well as some features of autism. The underlying neurobiological basis for motor impairments in 16p11.2 syndrome has not yet been investigated.
Anna Malia "Malia" Beckwith, is Section Chief for Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics at Children's Specialized Hospital (CSH) and Fellowship Program Director for the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School Fellowship in Developmental Behavioral Pediatrics.
Michael Piper and colleagues confirmed and extended the association of USP9X loss-of-function mutations with a neurodevelopmental syndrome in both sexes, driven by changes in multiple signaling pathways.
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