New phenotypic data from Simons Searchlight participants were recently added to SFARI Base. This release includes data from individuals with 94 gene changes and 15 copy number variants known to be connected to autism.

SFARI is pleased to announce that it intends to fund three collaborative projects in response to the 2023 Cross-Species Studies of ASD request for applications.

This issue of the SFARI newsletter includes: (1) Information about SFARI requests for applications in 2024, (2) Announcing the 2023 SFARI Bridge to Independence fellows, (3) Organoids offer new insights into forebrain neuron development in ASD, (4) New research clarifies connection between autism and the microbiome, (5) Simons Foundation Autism and Neuroscience Social at Neuroscience 2023, (6) SFARI Bridge to Independence Award — Request for applications.

Two studies by different research groups — one led by Flora Vaccarino and the other by Juergen Knoblich — used brain organoids derived from pluripotent stem cells of people with autism and showed how transcriptional alterations affecting certain cell types during human brain development could contribute to the early emergence of ASD.

A number of presentations will be given by SFARI Investigators at Neuroscience 2023, the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience.