SFARI announces the recipients of the Autism BrainNet Appreciation Award, a new honor that recognizes outstanding partners and collaborators for their dedication to advancing brain tissue research in autism.

Ten years after its launch, Simons Searchlight counts a community of 4,000 families, encompassing more than 150 genetic neurodevelopmental conditions. Thanks to the dedicated, highly motivated families who have participated in research, genetic and phenotypic data and biospecimens have been collected for several of these conditions, providing researchers with invaluable resources to advance the understanding of autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions.

The International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) Virtual 2021 Annual Meeting was held May 3–7, 2021. A selection of presentations by SFARI Investigators, SFARI staff and collaborators are highlighted here. Virtual content is available online until early June 2021 (for registered meeting participants only).

New Simons Searchlight data were recently added to SFARI Base. This data release included phenotypic data from individuals with 16p11.2 copy number variants (CNVs), 1q21.1 CNVs, 7q11.23 duplication and variants in 32 single genes associated with autism and related neurodevelopmental conditions.

SFARI is pleased to announce that eight Director Awards were awarded in 2020. These projects include, but are not limited to, studies that aim to enhance existing SFARI-sponsored cohorts and collections, generate novel resources (e.g., animal models) and studies whose goals are beyond the focus of existing SFARI request for applications.

SFARI is pleased to announce that it intends to fund 19 grants in response to the Summer 2020 Pilot Award request for applications.

Phenotypic data from 251,082 participants enrolled in SPARK, including more than 99,000 individuals with ASD, are now available to approved researchers.

New data were recently added to SFARI Gene. This data release included the addition of new genes associated with autism risk, new curated references of copy number variations associated with autism and new mouse models of autism.

SFARI is pleased to announce that Simons Searchlight has launched a research matching program, through which researchers can apply to recruit individuals enrolled in Simons Searchlight into new research studies. Researchers can submit an application via SFARI Base.

A number of presentations will be given by SFARI Investigators at the SfN Global Connectome: A Virtual Event (January 11–13).