News Release

UNC to lead early brain development in autism research network

CHAPEL HILL – The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of six centers of excellence nationwide selected to take part in a new autism research project sponsored by the National Institutes of Health.

The network of sites will examine very early brain development in infants at risk for an autism spectrum disorder. Joseph Piven, M.D., is principal investigator for sites including UNC, Yale University, Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Washington. Piven is the Sarah Graham Kenan professor in the UNC School of Medicine and director of the UNC Neurodevelopmental Disorders Research Center. Direct NIH funding for the project will total $10 million.

Members of the research network will examine more than 500 siblings of children with autism at six, 12 and 24 months of age. “This study will provide unique and valuable new information on the relationship between these early brain changes and the development of autistic symptoms, and may offer important insights that lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders,” Piven said.

Previous studies by Piven and others found that individuals with autism often have enlarged brains, and this enlargement may take place during the end of the first year of life. The onset coincides with the first signs of autistic symptoms in many children.

The Autism Centers of Excellence program represents a consolidation of two existing NIH programs: Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment (STAART) and Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism (CPEA).

“The consolidation was needed to capitalize on the gains made by the NIH research effort in autism,” said Elias Zerhouni, M.D., director of the National Institutes of Health. Autism program officials hope the new network will expand earlier discoveries made by NIH-supported research.

The NIH Institutes providing funding and expertise for the effort are the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the National Institute of Deafness and other Communication Disorders, the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, the National Institute of Mental Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

Autism is a complex brain disorder involving communication and social difficulties as well as repetitive behavior or narrow interests. Autism is often be grouped with similar disorders, all of which may be referred to collectively as autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The underlying causes of ASD are unclear. Currently, there is no cure for the disorders and treatments are limited.

The Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) will encompass research centers and research networks. The research centers will foster collaborations between teams of specialists, who share the same facility so that they can address a particular research problem in depth. ACE networks consist of researchers at many facilities in locations throughout the country, all of whom work on a single research question. Because networks encompass multiple sites, they can recruit large numbers of volunteers with a particular disorder.

Initially, five centers and one network will receive funding in 2007 to study ASD. Funding for a second set of research programs will be announced in 2008.
All award recipients will contribute their data to the National Database for Autism Research. Housed at NIH, the databe is a Web-based tool that autism researchers around the world can use to collect and share information on autism.

In addition to UNC, other 2007 ACE program award recipients are the University of Illinois at Chicago, University of California, San Diego; University of Washington, University of Pittsburgh and University of California, Los Angeles.

Related Web site:  http://www.ndrc.unc.edu/babysibs/

Note: Patient families are available for media interviews. To request an interview, contact Stephanie Crayton at (919) 966-2860.

School of Medicine contact: Stephanie Crayton, (919) 966-2860 or scrayton@unch.unc.edu
News Services contact: Becky Oskin, (919) 962-8596 or becky_oskin@unc.edu;  Clinton Colmenares, (919) 843-1991 or clinton_colmenares@unc.edu