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News

January 2010

Visit the Autistica website

Autism Speaks UK, which has supported the development of the BBA, has become Autistica. The BBA welcomes this development and acknowledges the huge contribution made by Autistica to funding autism research in the UK.

August 2009

Information Item

Research investigators who seek brain tissue from control subjects as part of their project should contact Dr Colin Smith, Consultant Neuropathologist, who is Principle Investigator for the MRC Sudden Death Brain and Tissue Bank in Edinburgh. The bank is able to sample specific tissues as required for specific medical research projects which have appropriate ethical approval.
For more information please visit the website.

Email Colin

May 2009

Funding gained for Brain Bank for Autism's first research project

Autism Speaks has provided the funding for a pilot study to carry out imaging of the brains affected by autism which have been donated to the brain bank since it was set up last year.   It will use the most advanced brain-scanning techniques, which will enable scientists to carry out detailed examination of the structure of the brain.  One of the world's leading centres for brain imaging (FMRIB) is located at the site in Oxford where the brain bank is based.  There is considerable scope for advancing understanding of altered brain structure in autism by post mortem brain scanning. In particular, the value of prolonged diffusion tensor imaging over about 18 hours has been highlighted in planning this project.  This can give information about cerebral connectivity that cannot be obtained in any other way. FMRIB is leading the world in this type of imaging, including that on post mortem brains, and could develop protocols that could be followed in other countries as well as in the UK. This form of research should not only develop our understanding of how autism affects the way the brain functions and is structured; it could also point to new ideas for interventions which would improve the lives of people with autism.

On May 21st, the Thomas Willis Oxford Brain Collection (TWOBC), which hosts the Brain Bank for Autism & Related Developmental Research (BBA), held its first Research Meeting to give information about the findings of its research over many years into diseases and conditions which affect the central nervous system, particularly neurodegenerative disease such as dementia. The meeting highlighted the wealth of expertise in this research team, which augurs well for the BBA since it will be brought to bear on the research relating to autism which will be carried out in future years by this team and in collaboration with colleagues in the US and elsewhere. Margaret Esiri, Professor of Neuropathology and Director of the BBA and of the wider TWOBC, gives an account of the potential for research using post-mortem brain donation on the following blog sites:

BBC

Oxford University

March 2009

Brain Awareness Week

From 16th to 22nd March 2009, Brain Awareness Week (BAW) will help to emphasise the need for post mortem research into how the brain develops and functions, thus supporting the work of the Brain Bank for Autism in the UK (BBA). BAW is an international initiative which will stimulate the development of international brain banking, of which the BBA is one of the few exemplars. BAW is dedicated to advancing public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research. Founded and coordinated by the Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives and its sister organisation, the European Dana Alliance for the Brain, BAW is now entering its fourteenth year as a catalyst for public understanding of brain science. The Dana Alliances are joined in the campaign by partners from around the world, including universities, hospitals, patient groups, government agencies, schools, service organisations, and professional associations.

For more information, please visit the Dana Alliance website

February 2009

The Board of Research Autism has agreed to endorse and support the Brain Bank for Autism & Related Developmental Research.

Research Autism is the only UK charity exclusively dedicated to research into interventions in autism.  It carries out high quality, independent research into new and existing health, education, social and other interventions. Its goal is the improvement of quality of life and outlook for the individuals affected and those around them and it has the active support of some of the world’s leading figures in autism and research.

Its website is one of the biggest, most up-to-date, and most scientifically reliable websites in the world for information about autism and the issues facing people with autism.

On 10th February 2009, its Board of Trustees considered and approved the recommendation of its Scientific and Advisory Committee to endorse and support the Brain Bank for Autism research programme. This will enable more people to know about our work and it will help us to disseminate information about the research we undertake.

September 2008

Autism Speaks Newsletter features the Brain Bank for Autism. Read more (opens pdf)

August 2008

News article featured in Communication Magazine

Asking people with autism and their families to consider donating brain tissue for research is contentious. Here, Brenda Nally, of Autism Speaks, tells us why the charity backs the parent-led post-mortem brain tissue donation programme. Read article

Current Research

Face Processing Area of Brain Shows Anatomical Differences in Autism

Research in the 1990s indicated that individuals with autism spectrum disorders had differences in the way they perceive faces, leading researchers to investigate a unique cortical brain area, referred to as the face processing area. Cells in this area are activated selectively in response to faces as opposed to non-face objects (e.g. a chair). Using non-invasive imaging technology for the study of human subjects, several labs demonstrated that there was less activation of the face processing area in those diagnosed with autism, and that these changes in face processing might contribute to the social deficits seen in those with autism.

A recent research publication in the journal Brain has now shown significant anatomical difference in the face processing part of the brain. This research was done by comparing post mortem brain material donated by individuals affected by autism compared to non-affected donors.

This research paper describes a microscopic evaluation of the face processing area, located in a brain region called the fusiform gyrus. For the last five years, Imke van Kooten, Ph.D., and her colleagues at the University of Maastricht in the Netherlands and in the U.S. have made painstaking measurements of the arrangement of neurons in post mortem brain sections. Such measurements are important since changes in size or total number of neurons is thought to reflect a change in function in a given area. Dr Kooten's research compares the neuron density, total neuron number and mean cell body volume in the fusiform gyrus with that of the primary visual cortex -- an area also dedicated to vision, located in the back of the brain.

Neurons in the primary visual cortex connect to neurons in the fusiform gyrus, effectively sending visual information to the region specialized for face processing. Analysis of neurons in these two areas showed that, compared to non-affected individuals, individuals with autism showed significant reductions in neuron density, total neuron numbers, and mean neuron cell volume in the fusiform gyrus. These results are interpreted to mean that, in autism, while the primary visual cortex has neurons in normal numbers and size, the fusiform gyrus shows neuropathological changes.

Dr Kooten and her colleagues suggest that the reduced neuronal size and total neuron number in the fusiform gyrus might contribute to impaired face processing in autism. Since individuals with autism can indeed 'see' faces, most likely by utilization of unique neural circuitry, the research team plans further study of other additional cortical areas implicated in visual processing. This continued research will be part of the Brain Atlas Project, a larger study supported by Autism Speaks' Autism Tissue Programme which is based in the US. The project, a joint effort of co-PIs Christoph Schmitz, Ph.D., and Jerzy Wegiel, Ph.D., at the NY Institute for Basic Research in Staten Island, was started officially in 2002 and is comprised of 14 autism-affected and 14 non-affected brain donor hemispheres ranging from age 4 to 66. The publication summarized here represents the first data from this project, reporting on the first 7 autism-affected brains. The aim is to perform comprehensive cell counting and volumetry, neuropathology, MRI and 3-D reconstructions of donor brain hemispheres, a rare and unique resource so lovingly provided by families.

Autism Speaks' Brain Bank for Autism and Related Developmental Disorders supports specialized neuropathology research such as this by providing approved scientists access to the most rare and necessary of resources, post mortem human brain tissue. We wish to recognize the gifts of hope by our brain donor families.

Van Kooten, IAJ, Palmen, SJMC, von Cappeln, P; Steinbusch, HWM, Korr, H, Heinsen, H, Hof, PR, van Engeland, H & C Schmitz. 2008. Neurons in the fusiform gyrus are fewer and smaller in autism. Brain, 131(4):987-999.

Other Research Projects

 

BRAIN STRUCTURE (Stereology)

Environmental Factors

Epigenetics

Genes and Proteins

Glial Cells

Growth / Development Factors

Neurochemistry and Synaptic Processes

Tissue Array Projects