SFARI is pleased to announce that it expects to have funded 22 grants in response to the Explorer Awards request for applications (RFA) this year.

The Innovative Medicines Initiative, a European public-private initiative, recently awarded a €115 million five-year grant for autism research. The Autism Innovative Medicine Studies-2-Trials (AIMS-2-Trials) brings together 48 partners from academia, industry and nonprofit foundations, including SFARI.

New Simons VIP Phase 2 data were recently added to SFARI Base. This data release included data from individuals with 16p11.2 copy number variants, 1q21.1 CNVs and mutations in the following single genes: ADNP, ASXL3, CHAMP1, CHD8, CSNK2A1, DYRK1A, GRIN2B, HIVEP2, HNRNPH2, MED13L, PACS1, PPP2R5D, SCN2A, SETBP1, STXBP1 and SYNGAP1.

SFARI Investigators will be giving a number of presentations at Neuroscience 2018 in San Diego, CA (November 3–7).

SFARI is pleased to announce that it intends to fund 36 grants (15 Pilot Awards and 21 Research Awards) in response to the 2018 Pilot and Research Awards request for applications.

New data were added to SFARI Gene in August 2018. This data release included updated gene scores for candidate autism risk genes, as well as the addition of new genes and copy number variant loci associated with autism. New mouse, rat, zebrafish and Drosophila models were also added.

The animal models module of SFARI Gene has recently been expanded to include two new species: Drosophila melanogaster and Danio rerio. As of now, the database lists 55 genes for Drosophila models and 24 genes for zebrafish models, in addition to several models induced by biological or chemical agents.

SFARI Investigators will be giving a number of presentations at the 11th FENS Forum of Neuroscience in Berlin, Germany (July 7-11).