Events
Upcoming Lectures
Autism, autisms, or neurodevelopmental disorders?
Adjunct Scientist, Mouse Imaging Centre, The Hospital for Sick Children
Associate Professor in Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto
On January 29, 2020, Jason Lerch will explore this question: What do modern ways of looking at brains and genes tell us about autism – or autisms – and its relation to attention deficit disorder, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other related disorders of brain development?
Past Lectures
From genotype to phenotype in autism: The role of adaptive physiology in flies and mice
On November 20, 2019, Graeme Davis presented his research investigating the mechanisms that lie at the interface between neuronal homeostatic plasticity and ASD genetics.
Neuroimmune interactions shaping social behavior in mouse models for neurodevelopmental disorders
On October 30, 2019, Gloria Choi discussed her work using mouse models of maternal immune activation to study the role of maternal infection in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder.
Altered somatosensory processing in autism spectrum disorders: Mechanisms and emerging therapeutic opportunities
On April 24, 2019, David Ginty presented his work on the neurobiological basis of touch over-reactivity in mouse models of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). He also discussed new pharmacological approaches aimed at reducing sensory over-reactivity and potentially improving cognitive and behavioral abnormalities associated with ASD.
Mapping human cerebral cortex: Structure, function, connectivity, development and evolution
On April 3, 2019, David Van Essen provided an overview of basic principles of cortical organization and connectivity from studies of laboratory animals and analyses of individual variability in humans. He also highlighted a new map (‘parcellation’) of the human cerebral cortex based on data from the Human Connectome Project.
The genetic influences on autism spectrum disorder risk
Associate Member, Broad Institute
On January 30, 2019, Elise Robinson provided an overview of the role that genetic factors play in autism spectrum disorders and discussed the next steps to further understand autism genetics.
The predictive impairment hypothesis in autism: An empirical assessment
On December 12, 2018, Pawan Sinha and Dagmar Sternad reviewed a recently proposed hypothesis about the nature of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) that posits that the common traits of the disorder are manifestations of an individual’s difficulty in making predictions about cause and effect.