Autism Spectrum Disorders

Speakers

Organizers

John Spiro, PhD

The Simons Foundation

Dr. John Spiro is Senior Associate Director for Research at the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI). The Simons Foundation is a private foundation based in New York City dedicated to advancing research in the basic sciences and mathematics. The mission of SFARI is to improve the diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders by driving, catalyzing and funding research of the greatest quality and relevance. Begun in 2006, the total size of the program has grown to approximately $60 million per year. John earned his undergraduate degree in Biology from Haverford College and his PhD from the University of California at San Diego. His thesis was based on work in the laboratory of the late Walter Heiligenberg and his postdoctoral work was with Richard Mooney at Duke University. His research interests were in cellular and systems neuroscience, and he focused on preparations where it was possible to forge links between cellular neurobiology and behavior. In 2000 John joined Nature Publishing Group as an editor at Nature Neuroscience, where he was involved in evaluating research findings across the field of neuroscience. In 2004 he moved to Nature as a Senior Editor on the biology team, where he oversaw a group of editors responsible for editorial decisions and peer review of manuscripts across all areas of neuroscience. In addition he gained experience in communicating science with both professional scientists and the public through his involvement in commissioning, editing and writing editorials, book reviews and other material for the journal and related web based resources. He moved to the Simons Foundation in 2007.

Sonya Dougal, PhD

The New York Academy of Sciences

Speakers

Brett Abrahams, PhD

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Dr. Abrahams is interested in understanding relationships between disorders of human cognition and interplay between genes known to modulate risk. He received his Ph.D. in Neuroscience within the Center for Molecular Medicine and Therapeutics at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada. He later carried out postdoctoral training within the Neurogenetics program at the University of California, Los Angeles. Dr. Abrahams joined the Department of Genetics at Einstein this past summer and holds a cross appointment in Neuroscience. He has published widely in journals including Nature, NEJM, PLoS Genetics, and PNAS and currently serves on the Gene Advisory Board for the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative.

Ami Klin, PhD

Yale University

Ami Klin, Ph.D. is the Harris Professor of Child Psychology and Psychiatry at the Yale Child Study Center, Yale University School of Medicine. He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of London, and completed clinical and research post-doctoral fellowships at the Yale Child Study Center. He directs the Autism Program at Yale, which is one of the designated National Institutes of Health Autism Centers of Excellence. Dr. Klin's primary research activities focus on the social mind and the social brain, and on aspects of autism from infancy through adulthood. These studies include novel techniques such as the eye-tracking laboratories co-directed with Warren Jones, which allow researchers to see the world through the eyes of individuals with autism. These techniques are now being applied in the screening of babies at risk for autism in the Simons Laboratory of Social Neuroscience in Infancy. Beginning in 2011, Dr. Klin will lead an initiative to deploy cognitive science methods in high throughput screening for autism in infants in Atlanta. This initiative is a collaboration between the Marcus Autism Center, Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, and Emory University Department of Pediatrics.

Tim Roberts, PhD

The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Dr Roberts obtained his PhD from Cambridge University , England in 1992. He has subsequently been on the faculty at UCSF and the University of Toronto and is presently holder of the Oberkircher Family Chair in Pediatric Radiology and Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Radiology at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as well as Professor of Radiology, University of Pennsylvania. His work in 4D functional imaging using biomagnetic recording as well as advanced MRI techniques (such as diffusion tensor imaging), specifically in the study of auditory processing and language has been supported by the National Alliance for Autism Research and is presently supported by Autism Speaks, the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and NIH. He has published in excess of 200 scientific papers, mostly in the field of physiologic and functional imaging, reviews grant proposals for NIH (standing member, DBD) and several equivalent international agencies (UK, Germany, Austria, Singapore, Israel, Cyprus, Canada, Holland), and serves on the executive committee of the American Society for Neuroradiology, the American Society for Functional Neuroradiology (President 2009-10) and the International Society for the Advancement of Clinical MEG (President 2009-11).

Matthew State, MD, PhD

Yale University School of Medicine

Matthew State, MD, PhD is the Donald J Cohen Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry, Psychiatry and Genetics at Yale University School of Medicine. He is the Vice Chairman for Research in the Department of Psychiatry and the Co-director of the Yale Program on Neurogenetics. Dr. State's laboratory studies the genetics of pediatric neuropsychiatric syndromes with a particular emphasis on autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and rare genetic variation. The lab uses molecular cytogenetics, linkage analyses, deep sequencing, copy number variation and whole exome sequencing in an effort to discover genes underlying these disorders. The lab has identified several strong candidates for involvement in ASD, including Contactin 4 (Fernandez et al., 2004 and 2008) and Contactin Associated Protein 2 (Bakkaloglu et al., 2008). Dr. State currently leads a collaborative genome-wide study of copy number variation in ASD funded by the Simons Foundation involving more than 5000 individuals. He has been supported by a ARRA "grand opportunity" grant and the Simons Foundation to conduct next generation sequencing in autism using both targeted and whole exome approaches and he has collaborated with his colleagues Murat Gunel and Richard Lifton at Yale to be among the first groups to demonstrate the power of this approach to identify novel genes involved in structural brain disorders (Bilguvar et al., 2010). Dr. State is a practicing Child Psychiatrist and the research efforts in his lab are focused on the translation of molecular genetic findings into new approaches to treatment across a variety of neurodevelopmental syndromes. 

Paul Wang, MD

Seaside Therapeutics

Paul Wang, M.D., is a developmental-behavioral pediatrician and Vice President for Clinical Development at Seaside Therapeutics, Inc.  Seaside Therapeutics is working to translate the basic science of learning and memory into targeted therapies for patients with Fragile X syndrome and for patients with autism spectrum disorders.  Dr. Wang is a graduate of Harvard College and Yale School of Medicine.  He also trained at the University of Michigan and the Salk Institute for Biological Sciences.  Prior to joining industry, Dr. Wang served on the faculty of Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where he cared for patients with various neurodevelopmental disabilities, and where he studied the development of language and memory in children with genetic syndromes.  Dr. Wang remains actively engaged in the academic community, through leadership roles in the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) and the Society for Developmental-Behavioral Pediatrics, and in scholarly journal editorial roles.  He serves regularly on advisory panels for agencies such as the AAP, NIH, and CDC, on topics related to neurodevelopmental disorders and pediatric drug development.