|
Autism BrainNet
Summer 2017 Newsletter
|
|
|
 |
| David Amaral, PhD Director, Autism BrainNet |
|
Letter from the Director
I am writing this on Father's Day, June 18th, 2017. I'd like to wish a belated fathers day to all of the dads that are reading this.
Fathers are inherently problem solvers. Certainly, most of the fathers that I have met whose family is affected by autism appear to be so. I first encountered this with the founding fathers of the MIND Institute who gave us the mission of "curing" their sons. In fact, at the opening ceremony of the MIND Institute, one of the fathers said that his fondest wish was to be able to close down the MIND Institute in a decade because we had solved the problem of autism.
Well, autism has turned out to be far more complicated than anyone had imagined even 20 years ago. There appear to be many types of autism that have different causes and probably will need different treatments. How do we get to the bottom of this complex disorder?
We started Autism BrainNet with the knowledge that autism is due to an alteration of brain function. So, if we are to understand autism we will need to understand the changes in structure and function of the autistic brain. Only then will we be able to develop effective, targeted treatments for different forms of autism. The reason that science is honing in on effective preventions and treatments for other neurological disorders such as Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease is because literally thousands of brains from people with these illnesses have been studied after death.
All of the staff of Autism BrainNet appreciate how difficult it is to contemplate the death of a loved one and the possibility of donating their brain to scientific research. And, we certainly do not fault any family for which this decision is not possible. But, we are bolstered by the knowledge that many families have already made such a donation and many others have expressed their willingness to do so. We are eternally grateful to those families whose selfless donation will help us understand a disorder that affects an increasing number of children worldwide.
Since you are reading this, you have already expressed an interest in learning more about Autism BrainNet. We ask you to help us spread the word. We have slightly over 3,200 families receiving this Newsletter but there are between 3 and 4 million families in the United States that are affected by autism. We would like to enlist your help in spreading the word to the entire autism community. Please make your local autism community aware of Autism BrainNet and the information provided on our community-oriented website,
TakesBrains.org. If you think that it would be beneficial to have one of the Autism BrainNet staff present at an autism meeting in your community, please let us know and we will make every effort to attend. You can start the ball rolling by sending a message to
[email protected].
Thank you for your continuing support and together I feel confident that we can make great strides in solving the problems of autism.
David Amaral
|
|
|
|
Autism BrainNet Participates in Neuropathologist Symposium
Autism BrainNet is making efforts to engage different medical communities in more effective collection of brain tissue for research. Two important meetings were held to better engage both medical examiners and neuropathologists in autism research.
On May 25th, a distinguished group of medical examiners met at the Simons Foundation in New York City to provide specific recommendations for how Autism BrainNet can work with this community to facilitate brain donation. One critical outcome was that Medical Examiners often do not know many details about the medical history of individuals that come to their office. Out of 20,000 cases processed in New Jersey in 2016, for example, only 3 had any
mention of
|
|
|
| Manny Casanova and Alycia Halladay at the Autism BrainNet booth at the AANP meeting |
|
autism in their records. This means that if a family intends to make a brain
donation, they must inform the medical examiner staff of this intension. Then, Autism BrainNet can be
called to handle all of the details with the family.
On June 8th, over 300 neuropathologists met for the 93rd
Annual Meeting of the American Association of
Neuropathologists
in Los Angeles where
|
|
|
A group of 300 neuropathologists listen to a series of talks about autism.
|
they received continuing medical education credit for attending an afternoon symposium on the cellular and structural changes associated with autism in the brain. Autism tissue researcher Dr.
Manuel Casanova
from the University of South Carolina shared the most recent findings on neuropathological features of ASD.
|
|
|
| Matt State answers a question about the link between genes and severity of symptoms |
|
Dr.
Matthew State
,
c
hair of the Department of Psychiatry and director of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute
s
poke about how genes determine the shape and connection of neurons in the brain.
Dr. Matthew Anderson, Director of the Autism BrainNet Node in Boston, talked to the audience about recent advances in autism research thanks to
|
|
|
Matt Anderson discussed how genes can alter circuitry in ASD |
the study of brain tissue research. Finally, Dr. Eric Huang, a neuropathologist from UCSF highlighted the importance of the migration of cells in the brain from where they were born to where they end up for proper functioning of the brain.
You can hear more details about these meetings, including more information on the presentations themselves and what the speakers told the audience, on the June 12th episode of the
Autism Science Foundation podcast here.
|
|
Research Scientists Gather at IMFAR to Present the Latest on Autism Research Including Brain Tissue Research
|
|
|
| Thomas Avino from UC Davis talks about cells in the amygdala and how they change with age. |
|
At this
year's International Meeting for Autism Research, held May 10-13, 2017 in San Francisco, researchers revealed some of their newest and most exciting unpublished findings. For example, Dr. Thomas Avino, a post-doctoral fellow studying under Autism BrainNet node director Dr. Cynthia Schumann, presented new findings on neurons in the amygdala. The amygdala is located in the temporal lobe of the brain, and has many functions, including the processing of fear. Previous MRI studies have demonstrated that the structure and function of the amygdala appear to be altered in autism. Dr. Avino looked at neuron numbers in different regions of the amygdala and found that in one part of the amygdala called the basal nucleus, there is an increase in the number of cells in young children compared to brains of
|
|
|
Melissa Miller, Carolyn Hare, and Dr. Alycia Halladay representing Autism BrainNet at IMFAR 2017 |
people without autism, but a decreased number in older individuals. There is a population of immature neurons across age in both conditions. How these findings might relate to
age-related changes in symptoms in people with ASD will be the subject of future research.
Dr. Jerzy Wiegel from the Institute of Basic Research in Staten Island discussed the corpus callosum, which is the largest bundle of connections of the right and left hemispheres of the brain. He found that about 30% of individuals with autism showed a
thinning of the corpus callosum. This happens in people without autism, but is extremely rare. His findings reinforced the "under connectivity" theory of autism that says that brain regions do not connect properly and do not talk to each other effectively.
|
|
The When and Why of Age Related Changes in the Autistic Brain
|
|
|
Dysregulation in genes in the brain in young people vs. adults |
To address the issue of how genetic expression affects structural changes in the brain and how that differs over time, the Courchesne laboratory at the University of California, San Diego used tissue obtained from Autism BrainNet. They separated the ages into younger children and older adults, and compared the genetic changes seen at these different ages. The researchers found that in the young autistic brain, there was dysregulation in gene pathways that were responsible for how many cells are present in the brain, how they connect to each other and how they develop into neurons or other types of brain cells. In adults, there were different genetic changes. There was dysregulation (meaning some genes were too active, others were not active enough) relating to cell signaling and repair of damaged cells, and generation of new cells.
The article is open access and can be downloaded
here.
|
|
If You Missed It: Recent Webinars
If you were unable to join us on the last two Autism BrainNet webinars, you can watch them anytime from anywhere! Click below to learn about why studying both genetics and epigenetics of the brain is essential to understanding how the brain develops, works, and reacts to environmental factors.
"Understanding the Genetics and Epigenetics of Autism by Looking at the Brain"
Neelroop Parikshak, PhD
Neelroop Parikshak, PhD
UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine
UCLA Center for Autism Research and Treatment, and lab of Daniel H. Geschwind
"Investigating Gene x Environment Interactions in "Single Gene Autisms"
Dr. Janine LaSalle and Keith Dunway
L-R: Janine LaSalle, PhD, Associate Director of Genomics, Genome Center, and Professor, Medical Microbiology and Immunology, MIND Institute, University of California, Davis; and Keith Dunway, Genetics Graduate Student, University of California, Davis College of Biological Sciences
|
|
Out and About with Autism BrainNet
|
|
Alycia Halladay Ross at the Miami Autism Speaks Walk.
|
|
|
| Eager supporters of the Autism BrainNet at the Bay Area Autism Speaks Walk. |
|
|
Rita Tepper representing the Autism BrainNet at the Els for Autism Conference in April.
|
|
|
| Melissa Miller, Carolyn Hare, and Alycia Halladay Ross represented the Autism BrainNet at IMFAR 2017. |
|
|
Proud Autism BrainNet Registrants
|
|
|
Laura proudly wears her Autism BrainNet tshirt.
|
|
|
| Arthur from Tenafly, NJ proudly represents the Autism BrainNet. |
|
|
