
On January 29–30, SFARI convened the fourth annual meeting of the SFARI Sex Differences Collaboration (SSDC) in New York City.

On January 29–30, SFARI convened the fourth annual meeting of the SFARI Sex Differences Collaboration (SSDC) in New York City.


On September 29, 2025, the SFARI Autism Rat Consortium (ARC) held its annual meeting in the Usher Institute of the University of Edinburgh. This year’s event brought together ARC PIs and trainees who specialize in the use of rat models.

SFARI is pleased to announce it will fund five projects investigating the influence of autism-associated risk genes on early neurodevelopment and links to later circuit-level functional outcomes. These awards will provide up to $3.6 million over 4 years to each team of researchers.
The overall goal of Xin Tang’s project is to yield insights into the molecular programs that lead to reduced KCC2 gene expression in neurons from individuals with autism and to consequently develop mechanism-guided drugs that restore KCC2 gene expression and ultimately reverse symptoms of the condition.
In this pilot study, Pierre Vanderhaeghen and his team aim to explore the intricate connections between ASD, mitochondrial function, and human neuronal development, with a specific focus on developmental timing. Innovative tools, including an in vitro model for studying mitochondrial morphology, dynamics, and function and an in vivo xenotransplantation model of human cortical neurons, will be used to achieve this. The investigation seeks to understand how mitochondrial dynamics and metabolism contribute to the pathology of ASD-linked mutations in genes such as MECP2 and SYNGAP1.

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.