On May 21, 2019, the recipients of the SFARI Bridge to Independence Award gathered at the Simons Foundation to discuss their scientific findings and plans in autism research.
Funds donated by SFARI to Gordon Research Conferences will now be allocated to support attendance of eligible early-career (pre-tenure) women, early-career trainees from historically underrepresented groups and scientists from the following ethnic and racial groups: Hispanic or Latino, American Indian or Alaska Native, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander.
SFARI Collaborations are a new funding mechanism that will provide substantive and stable funding support to multidisciplinary teams of investigators tackling critical issues in the autism research field. Collaborations will be led by a director who oversees interdisciplinary, synergistic research efforts across multiple laboratories. Investigative groups within a Collaboration will focus on the same conceptually unified topic but will incorporate different scientific disciplines, multiple levels of analysis, and will include a robust data-sharing infrastructure.
SFARI Collaborations have a maximum budget of up to $8,000,000, including 20 percent indirect costs, over an initial period of four years, with a possible three-year extension.
For our first Collaboration RFA, SFARI solicits applications to investigate sex differences in autism.
This issue of the SFARI newsletter includes: (1) Zebrafish lines added to SFARI resources, (2) 2019 Novel Outcome Measures in Autism Spectrum Disorder awardees, (3) Transition in SFARI directorship, (4) A joint variant call-set for all Simons Simplex Collection whole-genome sequences, (5) SFARI Investigators elected to the National Academy of Medicine, (6) SFARI blog: Paul Wang, “The need for objective outcome measures to advance intervention research in autism”, (7) SFARI blog: Wendy Chung and John Spiro, “Simons Searchlight: Rebranding and expanding the program”, (8) SFARI spring 2019 science meeting report, (9) Highlights of SFARI-funded research, (10) 2020 Bridge to Independence Award – Request for applications, (11) Upcoming lecture: Jason Lerch, “Autism, autisms or neurodevelopmental disorders?”
SFARI is now curating a set of zebrafish lines to study autism spectrum disorder. This includes mutant lines for 12 ASD risk genes, four of which are currently available to researchers and eight that will be available later this year.
SFARI held its 15th science meeting April 7–9, 2019. Over 100 SFARI investigators, collaborators and foundation staff convened to discuss recent findings on the genetics, molecular- and system-level mechanisms and clinical aspects of autism spectrum disorder. In addition to keynote and session presentations, the meeting hosted a panel on animal behavior and demonstrations of online tools for visualizing and analyzing data sets relevant for autism research.
Grants awarded through this RFA were intended to provide support for the investigation of key unresolved research questions in autism, particularly those that connect etiology to brain function and behavior. SFARI welcomed risk and novelty in Research Award proposals, but potential impact on the autism research field was the most important criterion. Competitive applications had preliminary data or other relevant groundwork that justifies substantial investment on the proposed topic.