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A brain link to autism
Using a visual test that is known to prompt different reactions in autistic and normal brains, Harvard researchers have shown that those differences were associated with a breakdown in the signaling pathway used by one of the brain’s chief inhibitory neurotransmitters.
Sick with measles, again
Dyann Wirth, chair of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health’s Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, discusses what’s behind the resurgence of measles in the United States.
Help for halting autism symptoms
A new study shows that boosting inhibitory neurotransmission early in brain development can help reverse deficits in inhibitory circuit maturation that are associated with autism.
Researchers shed new light on schizophrenia
Harvard-affiliated researchers joined an international team to identify more than 100 locations in the human genome associated with the risk of developing schizophrenia in what is the largest genomic study published on any psychiatric disorder to date.
Family ties with a Disney twist
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Harvard fellow Ron Suskind talks about connecting with his autistic son through Disney films.
Autism as a facet of experience, not a limit
Temple Grandin, a professor of animal science at Colorado State, brought her experience as an advocate for autistics to a talk at the Ed School.
Autism diagnosis surge puts financial strain on schools
The cost of special education and medical services for a child with autism averages $17,000 annually, according to a new study by researchers from Harvard ...
Toxic chemicals linked to brain disorders in children
Toxic chemicals may be triggering recent increases in neurodevelopmental disabilities among children — such as autism, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, and dyslexia — according to a new study. The researchers say a new global prevention strategy to control the use of these substances is urgently needed.
High pollution may increase risk of autism
Women in the U.S. exposed to high levels of air pollution while pregnant were up to twice as likely to have a child with autism as women who lived in areas ...
Women abused as children more likely to have children with autism
Women who experienced physical, emotional, or sexual abuse as children are more likely to have a child with autism than women who were not abused, ...
Researchers awarded NARSAD grants
The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation announced $11.9 million in new research grants, strengthening its investment in the most promising ideas to lead to breakthroughs in understanding and treating mental illness, including 19 grants to Harvard researchers.
Detecting autism in matter of minutes
Researchers at Harvard Medical School have significantly reduced from hours to minutes the time it takes to accurately detect autism in young children.
Rebuilding the brain’s circuitry
Harvard scientists have rebuilt genetically diseased circuitry in a section of the mouse hypothalamus, an area controlling obesity and energy balance, demonstrating that complex and intricately wired circuitry of the brain long considered incapable of cellular repair can be rewired with the right type of neuronal “replacement parts.”
Neurons in youth
A group of researchers is working to map how the brain is wired in an effort to pinpoint the causes of — and potential treatments for — schizophrenia, autism, and a host of other disorders.
HMS fellowship open for applicants
Harvard Medical School and the Nancy Lurie Marks Foundation are accepting applications for the Nancy Lurie Marks Junior Faculty Merit Scholarship.
Leon Eisenberg
Leon Eisenberg was a professor of psychiatry and chief of the Department of Psychiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Beyond DNA
On a day when Harvard celebrated the accomplishments of the Human Genome Project, the Radcliffe Institute hosted a scientist whose work focuses not just on DNA, but on the mechanisms that control its expression.
Major step in autism testing
Researchers at Harvard-affiliated McLean Hospital and the University of Utah have developed the best biologically based test for autism to date. The test was able to detect the disorder in individuals with high-functioning autism with 94 percent accuracy.
Call for applications for postdoctoral fellowship in autism
Harvard Medical School and the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation are accepting applications for the Nancy Lurie Marks Postdoctoral Fellowship in Autism. Two fellowships will be awarded, effective January 2011.
Panel finds no digestion problem specific to autism
An advisory panel says there is no rigorous evidence that digestive problems are more common in children with autism compared with other children or that special diets work, contrary to claims by celebrities and vaccine opponents…
Autism’s genetic roots examined in new government-funded study
Researchers at Harvard University and Children's Hospital Boston will sequence the genomes of at least 85 people diagnosed with autism in a bid to tease out the genetic basis for some cases of the neuropsychiatric disorder.
How brain cells make good connections
Harvard neuroscientist Venkatesh N. Murthy has a sunny second-floor office on Divinity Avenue, where he is a professor in Harvard’s Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. In one corner is a set of weights and a soccer ball — both untouched in over a year, he said, because of an intensely busy schedule.
Research in brief
Major differences in protocols used to determine brain death; Harvard researchers achieve stem cell milestone; Consortium links chromosome abnormality to autism disorders; Blocking HIV infection; Oral osteoporosis meds appear to reduce the risk of jaw degradation; Six new genetic variants linked to heart-disease risk factor; Gene variation may elevate risk of liver tumor in some patients; Cancer stem cells can be targeted for destruction
