$100 Million for Autism Research

As many as one in every 88 children has an autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Research to understand ASD and find new treatments is costly. Nine research groups now have funding.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) gave $100 million to the Autism Centers of Excellence to fund research over the next five years.

The money goes toward research on the causes and treatments of ASD.

Ask your child’s psychiatrist about ASD treatments.

The $100 million was awarded to nine different research groups that are part of the Autism Centers of Excellence.

Three of the researchers who got funding are at university research programs.

At the University of California in Los Angeles and Boston University, researchers will use the money to do brain imaging that will help show how the brains of children with ASD function.

They will use the imaging to create new treatments that help with language learning.

At Emory University in Atlanta, money will be used to look at infants. They will track social development and look for factors linked to positive outcomes.

The other six groups are part of networks over multiple sites. 

Two of the networks will be looking at brain development in ASD. 

Another will be looking at sex-differences in ASD. They seek to understand why girls with ASD are affected differently from boys.

One group will look at the genetic and environmental factors that influence ASD across seven countries.

Two others will be doing clinical trials for ASD treatments.

The Autism Centers of Excellence were created by the NIH to foster collaboration and directed research into the causes and treatments for autism.

NIH is made up of 27 separate institutes.  Five different institutes within the NIH grant money to the Autism Centers of Excellent.

NIH news release was published on September 4 announcing the new funding programs.