SFARI | Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative

SFARI’s mission is to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders by funding innovative research of the highest quality and relevance.

SFARI

Funding Opportunity 2022 Pilot Award – Request for Applications

SFARI 2022 Pilot Award request for applications (RFA) is now open. Grants awarded through this RFA are intended to provide early support for exploratory ideas, particularly those with novel hypotheses for autism.

Funding Opportunity2022 Bridge to Independence Award – Request for applications

BlogUpdates to SFARI’s 2022 requests for grant applications

News

Simons Searchlight: December 2021 data release

More than funding: Career development opportunities abound for Bridge to Independence fellows

SFARI hosts virtual fall 2021 science meeting

SFARI 2021 Director Awards announced

Events

Aug 04

August 4 - 7, 2022

Hyatt Regency, Baltimore, MD

Conference Simons Searchlight CSNK2A1, HIVEP2, MED13L and SETBP1 Family and Scientific Conference

Available Resources

SFARI is working to advance autism science by providing a number of key resources to researchers.

Cohorts

Simons Simplex Collection

The Simons Simplex Collection (SSC) contains genetic and phenotypic data from nearly 3,000 families with a child affected by autism.

Simons Searchlight

Simons Searchlight is studying individuals with recurrent genetic variants associated with autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders.

SPARK

SPARK is an online research initiative that aims to recruit 50,000 individuals with autism and their family members living in the U.S.

Autism Inpatient Collection

Autism Inpatient Collection (AIC) is a study designed to produce a collection of phenotypic and genetic data from children with a clinical diagnosis of autism who have been admitted to one of six specialized inpatient…

Models

Mouse models

SFARI is helping to make mouse models of high-risk autism genes and copy number variants available to the research community.

Rat models

SFARI is helping to make rat models of high-risk autism genes available to the research community.

Zebrafish models

SFARI is helping to make zebrafish models of high-risk autism genes available to the research community.

Neural stem cell culture. Fluorescent light micrograph of groups of neural stem cells (neurospheres) in culture. Neural stem cells are able to differentiate into neurons (nerve cells) or support cells (glial cells). They are a potential source of cells to replace damaged or lost brain cells.

iPS cell models

SFARI is helping to make iPS cell lines derived from individuals who participated in the SSC and Simons Searchlight available to researchers.

Other Resources

SFARI Gene

SFARI Gene is an evolving database for the autism research community that is centered on genes implicated in autism susceptibility.

DNA analysis. Graphs showing the results of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) sequencing.

Data analysis tools

A number of visualization and analysis tools are available to explore genetic and phenotypic data from the SSC, Simons Searchlight and SPARK.

Therapeutics

Clinical Research Associates (CRA) is evaluating new potential treatments for autism, including R-baclofen.

SFARI Base

SFARI Base provides approved researchers with access to data and biospecimens from the SSC, Simons Searchlight, SPARK and Autism Inpatient Collection.

Autism BrainNet

Autism BrainNet is a collaborative network of academic sites that collects, stores and distributes brain tissue for autism research.

We solicit applications for SFARI Awards from individuals who will conduct bold, imaginative, rigorous and relevant research in four main research areas: gene discovery, molecular mechanisms, circuits, cognition and behavior, and clinical.

View Funding Opportunities

Funded Research

Since its launch in 2006, SFARI has supported over 550 investigators studying autism-related research in the U.S. and abroad. Research projects include studies at the genetic, molecular, cellular, circuit and behavioral levels, in addition to clinical and translational studies.

Research Highlights

Patchy expression of Pcdh19 in female mice causes defects in hippocampal neuron presynaptic development signaling and memory processing

Hisashi Umemori and colleagues showed that X-inactivation-based patchy expression of PCDH19 causes defects in presynaptic development and signaling in the mouse hippocampus, affecting memory processes.

High-resolution rodent movement tracking provides the opportunity to link autism risk genes with behavioral presentations

Bence Ölveczky, Jesse Marshall and colleagues developed a new method, CAPTURE, for long-term behavioral tracking in rodents and demonstrate its utility in tracking behaviors in Fmr1-KO rats.

A machine-learning framework for prioritizing disease-associated enhancers

Olga Troyanskaya and colleagues developed a bioinformatics framework for the identification and prioritization of disease-associated enhancers.

Other Initiatives

SPARK is an online research initiative that aims to recruit 50,000 individuals with autism and their families. sparkforautism.org

Spectrum is an editorially independent publication funded by SFARI spectrumnews.org

News

Events

Sign up for SFARI announcements

Funding Opportunities

Research Highlights

Event Videos

SFARI 2022 Bridge to Independence Award RFA: Informational session

What do we mean by ‘autism risk genes’?

Small molecules, genes and antisense oligonucleotides: Industry perspectives on treatment development for ASD

New research results from the Australian Autism Biobank study

Other Initiatives