Potholes and progress on the road to translational treatments in autism spectrum disorder
2017-01-25 17:00 - 18:15 UTC | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States
On 25 January 2017, Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele outlined critical challenges to translating genomic, cellular, and animal model research into new treatments for autism spectrum disorder.
His talk was part of the Simons Foundation Autism Research lecture series.
About the Lecture
Emerging genomic and neuroscience findings have delivered hypotheses that are now being tested in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and related genetic syndromes. Unfortunately, these clinical trials have not yet yielded positive results, suggesting a need to step back and evaluate the science of testing new treatments for neurodevelopmental disorders.
In this lecture, Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele outlined critical challenges, both conceptual and practical, to translating genomic, cellular, and animal model research into new treatments for ASD. He discussed the limitations to conclusions drawn from work in the laboratory as they are extrapolated to the clinic. He also described common pitfalls in clinical trials, including mismatches between hypotheses and study populations, substantial “placebo” effects, and subjective outcome measures. Framing these challenges in the context of past successes in ASD treatment research, he suggested guideposts as we work toward neurobiologically based treatments for ASD.
About the speaker:
Jeremy Veenstra-VanderWeele is the Mortimer D. Sackler, M.D., Associate Professor in Psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He completed his M.D. and residency training at the University of Chicago, postdoctoral training in neuroscience at Vanderbilt University, and moved to Columbia in 2014. As a child psychiatrist and developmental neuroscientist, his primary motivation is to deliver new treatments to children with autism spectrum disorder and related neurodevelopmental disorders.

Genomic insights into human cortical development and neurodevelopmental disease
2017-02-01 17:00 - 18:00 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

Exploiting genetics to identify environmental risks for autism
2017-02-22 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States
On 22 February 2017, Mark Zylka described how candidate environmental risk factors for autism can be identified rationally, by pinpointing chemicals that interfere with the same molecular pathways that are affected in individuals with autism.
His talk was part of the Simons Foundation Autism Research lecture series.
About the Lecture
Our inability to identify environmental threats to the brain early — before they cause disease — represents one of the major challenges of our time. This challenge is particularly relevant to autism, which affects 1 in 68 individuals. Heritability studies indicate that environmental factors contribute to autism risk.
In this lecture, Mark Zylka described how candidate environmental risk factors for autism can be identified rationally, by pinpointing chemicals that interfere with the same molecular pathways that are affected in individuals with autism. His research focuses on identifying environmental-use chemicals that target autism-linked molecular pathways, using environmental sampling data to assess the exposure threat to people, and validating risk potential in animal models.
About the speaker:
Mark Zylka is Director of the Neuroscience Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his B.S. in biochemistry from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, and his Ph.D. in neurobiology from Harvard University. While at Harvard, he identified several of the core circadian-clock genes and determined how these genes contribute to circadian rhythms in mammals. As a postdoctoral fellow at the California Institute of Technology, he identified a large family of receptors that regulate pain and itch. Zylka’s lab focuses on pain research and studying genetic and environmental risks for autism.

What can genetics tell us about autism spectrum disorder?
2017-03-22 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States
On 22 March 2017, Stephan Sanders presented an update on the current state of genetics research in autism, highlighting some of the key findings that remain to be discovered, and discussing how these findings could ultimately benefit individuals with autism and their families.
His talk was part of the Simons Foundation Autism Research lecture series.
About the Lecture
It has been known that autism spectrum disorder is primarily caused by genetic factors for several decades. The past 10 years have seen great progress in finding some of the genes responsible and in building a map of what other types of genetic variants may contribute. These findings have been used both to provide insight into the biology of autism and, in the clinic, to identify individuals with specific genetic variants.
In this lecture, Stephan Sanders presented an update on the current state of genetics research in autism, highlight some of the key findings that remain to be discovered, and discussing how these findings could ultimately benefit individuals with autism and their families.
About the speaker:
Stephan Sanders trained as a pediatric physician in the United Kingdom before pursuing a research career in genomics and bioinformatics. His work has helped characterize the role of de novo mutations in the etiology of autism and identified multiple autism risk loci, including duplications of the 7q11.23 Williams syndrome region (Sanders et al., Neuron, 2011) and mutations in the sodium channel gene SCN2A (Sanders et al., Nature, 2012). His work on the integration of copy number variation and exome data across multiple autism cohorts recently identified 71 autism risk loci (Sanders et al., Neuron, 2015). In addition, he worked as part of a group that integrated spatiotemporal gene expression data from the human brain with these autism-associated genes (Willsey et al., Cell, 2013). This approach has implicated deep-layer glutamatergic neurons in the frontal cortex during mid-fetal development in the causation of autism.
His lab has three main research aims: 1) Understanding the genetic basis of childhood neurodevelopmental conditions, in particular autism; 2) Understanding how these genetic factors lead to the conditions; and 3) Understanding the mechanism that leads to the male bias in autism diagnosis, in particular through identifying the biological basis of the female protective effect.

Leveraging long-term health data and exome sequencing for autism-related gene discovery
2017-10-11 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

Understanding autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders: From the embryo to brain organoids
2017-11-01 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

SFARI Society for Neuroscience 2017 Social
2017-11-13 18:30 - 20:30 | Marriott Marquis Washington, D.C. Liberty Salons I, J, K, 901 Massachusetts Ave NW, Washington, D.C., 20001, United States
All Society for Neuroscience (SfN) attendees are welcome to join SFARI Investigators and scientific staff for an evening of socializing and networking, including a brief information session on SFARI funding opportunities and scientific resources for the autism research community.
We welcome newcomers to autism research as well as those already working to uncover the science of autism spectrum disorders.
Simons Foundation staff will be available to answer questions about the work SFARI currently funds, future opportunities for funding and SFARI resources.

A number of SFARI Investigators will be presenting their research at Neuroscience 2016.To find out more, click here.

SFARI + SfN Social
Date: Monday, 13 November 2017
Time: 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Marriott Marquis Washington, D.C.
Liberty Salons I, J, K
Questions? Contact communications@simonsfoundation.org.
We look forward to seeing you there.

Autism genetics: Searching for coherence
2017-11-28 17:00 - 18:00 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

Arousal, emotion regulation and challenging behaviors: Insights from the Autism Inpatient Collection
2018-01-24 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

On the road to precision health: Brain-based biomarkers in autism spectrum disorder
2018-02-07 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

Autism genetics: Where have we been and where are we going?
2018-04-10 08:35 - 08:50 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

Thinking differently about neurodevelopmental disorders and autism: Lumping vs. splitting
2018-09-26 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

SFARI Society for Neuroscience 2018 Social
2018-11-05 18:30 - 20:30 | Hilton San Diego Bayfront Indigo 204, One Park Blvd, San Diego, CA, 92101, United States

Rethinking autism and animal models: A systems perspective
2018-11-28 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

The predictive impairment hypothesis in autism: An empirical assessment
2018-12-12 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

The genetic influences on autism spectrum disorder risk
2019-01-30 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

Mapping human cerebral cortex: Structure, function, connectivity, development and evolution
2019-04-03 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

Altered somatosensory processing in autism spectrum disorders: Mechanisms and emerging therapeutic opportunities
2019-04-24 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

SFARI Viewer - an online platform to visualize and analyze SFARI genomic data
2019-06-14 12:00 - 13:00

SFARI Society for Neuroscience 2019 Social
2019-10-21 18:30 - 20:30 | Marriott Marquis Chicago, 2121 S Prairie Ave, Chicago, 60616, United States

Neuroimmune interactions shaping social behavior in mouse models for neurodevelopmental disorders
2019-10-30 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

From genotype to phenotype in autism: The role of adaptive physiology in flies and mice
2019-11-20 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

Autism, autisms, or neurodevelopmental disorders?
2020-01-29 17:00 - 18:15 | Gerald D. Fischbach Auditorium, 160 5th Avenue, New York, NY, 10010, United States

Progress in understanding the genetic basis of mental health
2020-05-06 10:00 - 11:15 | Webinar

From parent advocate to nonprofit chief science officer, to biotherapeutic company cofounder — A personal journey through drug development for Angelman syndrome
2020-05-29 13:00 - 14:10 | Webinar

Phenotyping sleep
2020-09-16 16:45 - 18:15 | Webinar

Rare variants and the genetics of autism
2020-10-21 17:00 - 18:15 | Webinar

2021 SFARI Social
2021-01-11 15:30 - 16:30 | Online

2021 SFARI Social: Bridge to Independence Award
2021-01-13 15:30 - 16:30 | Online

Bridge to Independence Twitter chat Q&A
2021-01-26 14:00 - 15:00 | Twitter: @SFARIorg #BTIChat
