
Meaburn and Jones will test causal paths between ASD genetic risk and disruptions in the brain systems underpinning social attention, and examine how candidate protective environmental factors might moderate genetic risk.
Meaburn and Jones will test causal paths between ASD genetic risk and disruptions in the brain systems underpinning social attention, and examine how candidate protective environmental factors might moderate genetic risk.
Yu will leverage genomic data from SPARK, SSC and other large ASD cohorts to catalog biallelic/recessive ASD mutations, analyze phenotypic correlates and provide novel mechanistic insights.
Hilary Coon’s laboratory aims to further our understanding of the unknown genetic liability in ASD. Coon will provide a comprehensive characterization of whole genome sequence (WGS) data in 1138 Simons Simplex Collection families using novel genetic mutational analyses and behavioral classification measures. By stratifying families/probands into behavioral subsets and using background genetic risk to elucidate new causal WGS risk variants within these subsets, Coon aims to uncover new genetic ASD risk variants.
Gu will assess the contribution of mtDNA mutations to ASD by examining whole-genome sequencing SSC data and using maternal and fetal samples collected in the Boston Birth Cohort.