The Simons Foundation is pleased to announce this year’s recipients of its prestigious independence awards. The 13 fellows will receive support as they transition from mentored training to independent research positions.

On February 10, 2023, SFARI hosted an in-person meeting focused on measuring sensory system function in humans with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and other neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD).

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.

The Simons Foundation is now accepting applications from undergraduate students to participate in the Shenoy Undergraduate Research Fellowship in Neuroscience, or SURFiN, for the 2023–2024 academic year. The program’s goal is to spark and sustain interest in neuroscience among undergraduate students from diverse backgrounds underrepresented in neuroscience research. SURFiN is a joint initiative from the Simons Collaboration on the Global Brain (SCGB), the Simons Collaboration on Plasticity and the Aging Brain (SCPAB) and the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI).

New Simons Searchlight data were recently added to SFARI Base. The data released included phenotypic data from individuals with 16p11.2 copy number variant (CNVs), 1q21.1 CNVs, 7q11.23 duplication and variants in 32 single genes associated with autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions.

The Bridge to Independence Award program engages talented early-career scientists in autism research by facilitating their transition to research independence and providing grant funding at the start of their professorships at a U.S. or Canadian research institution.

Zebrafish lines for autism risk genes DYNC1H1 and MEF2C have been recently added to SFARI resources to study autism spectrum disorder.

SFARI is pleased to announce the 2021 Bridge to Independence (BTI) Award request for applications. The BTI Award program engages talented early-career scientists in autism research by facilitating their transition to research independence and providing grant funding at the start of their professorships at a U.S. or Canadian research institution.

Louis Reichardt, who has served as director of SFARI since 2013, finished his tenure here on September 28. John Spiro has been appointed interim director of SFARI until a new director is appointed.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, SFARI replaced the in-person spring 2020 science meeting that was scheduled April 5–7 with a series of seven weekly webinars held between April 17 and May 29.