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The Cambridge Autism Research Centre carries out research studies into autism, Asperger Syndrome (AS) and other conditions on the autism spectrum. Many of the research projects at ARC would be impossible without the help of volunteers like you!

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The mission of the ARC is to understand the biomedical causes of autism spectrum conditions, and develop new and validated methods for assessment and intervention. The ARC fosters collaboration between scientists in Cambridge University and outside, to accelerate this mission.


Brain anatomy of autism

The ARC is proud to be the Cambridge partner in this three-centre study (London, Cambridge, and Oxford) investigating brain anatomy in adults with autism spectrum conditions (ASC). This is the largest study of its kind to date. We studied 89 males with ASC and 89 matched controls using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with volumetric based morphometry (VBM). Individuals with ASC had increased gray matter volume in the anterior temporal and dorsolateral prefrontal regions. They also had reduced gray matter volume in the occipital and medial parietal regions, relative to controls. There was also evidence of atypical neural connectivity in ASC. The study was funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC) UK.

Electrical activity in the brain in infants is associated with a diagnosis of autism at 3 years of age

The ARC collaborated on this important study identifying an early marker of later autism, with the British Autism Study of Infant Siblings (BASIS) network, based in London

Maternal and paternal age is associated with likelihood of having a child on the autistic spectrum

The ARC collaborated with the analysis of this large dataset from the Danish National Psychiatric Register, led by colleagues at the University of Aarhus, Denmark.

Red Flags for Autism

This new study took existing instruments that discriminate cases (with an autism spectrum diagnosis) and controls, and identified the 10 best items on each of these questionnaires, to produce 'red flags' to alert a primary health professional that an individual might warrant a full diagnostic assessment. 1000 cases and 3000 controls were measured using one of 4 instruments: The Autism Spectrum Quotient (AQ) for adults, adolescents, or children; or the Q-CHAT (Quantitative Checklist for Toddlers). Results showed that the ten-item versions (the AQ-10 (at all age groups) and the Q-CHAT-10) had excellent specificity and sensitivity.

Fetal testosterone influences the sexually dimorphic regions of the human brain

This new study for the first time shows areas of the human brain where gray matter volume is influenced by fetal testosterone (FT). Some areas that were larger in males than females showed a positive association with FT. That is, individuals with the highest levels of FT had the largest volumes, while those with less FT had smaller volumes. This particular area, the right temporoparietal junction (TPJ) has been functionally implicated in mentalizing/theory of mind processes and our other recent study showed it is hypoactive in autism (Lombardo et al., 2011, Neuroimage).

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A novel functional brain imaging endophenotype of autism

Siblings of individuals with autism have over 20 times the population risk of autism. Evidence of comparable, but less marked, cognitive and social communication deficits in siblings suggests a role for these traits in the search for biomarkers of familial risk. However, no neuroimaging biomarkers of familial risk have been identified to date. Here we show, for the first time, that the neural response to facial expression of emotion differs between unaffected siblings and healthy controls with no family history of autism.

Why we prefer happy faces: The role of the cannabinoid receptor

New research published today in the journal Molecular Autism has found that depending on which variations of the cannabinoid receptor (CNR1) gene a person carries influences the amount of time people look at happy faces. The CNR1 gene is involved in the brain’s reward circuitry (and gets its name because it codes for the molecule that cannabis attaches itself to) and expressed primarily in the regions of the brain involved in reward processing.

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The Seaver Autism Center at the Mount Sinai School of Medicine, New York, in conjunction with Colombia University, is conducting a survey to learn more about early autism diagnoses.

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