The National Institutes of Health (NIH) announced on April 1, 2008, the latest recipients of the Autism Centers of Excellence (ACE) program. These grants will support studies covering a broad range of autism research areas, including early brain development and functioning, social interactions in infants, rare genetic variants and mutations, associations between autism-related genes and physical traits, possible environmental risk factors and biomarkers, and a potential new medication treatment.
The ACE program encompasses research centers and research networks. The research centers 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 together on a single research question.
Autism ( http://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/autism-spectrum-disorders-pervasive-developmental-disorders/index.shtml ) is a complex brain disorder involving communication and social difficulties as well as repetitive behavior or narrow interests. Autism is often 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 ACE program provides the framework for considerable gains in understanding the fundamental underpinnings of autism,” said Elias Zerhouni, M.D., Director of NIH. “By building on earlier discoveries, the ACE centers and networks will shed light on important risk factors and possibly even novel treatments.”
The 2008 ACE program Center award recipient is:
The 2008 ACE program Network award recipients are:
These grant awards add to the five centers and two networks awarded in 2007 ( http://www.nimh.nih.gov/science-news/2007/nih-funds-new-program-to-investigate-causes-and-treatment-of-autism.shtml ), which include the ACE Network grant awarded to Sally Rogers (University of California, Davis) late last year. To address the need for controlled studies of treatments for autism in very young children, Rogers and colleagues will compare an intensive behavioral intervention to standard community-based treatment in 18-24-month-old children with autism. Building on Rogers’ previous research, this new research will examine factors that can inform efforts to provide the best treatment outcomes for very young children with autism.
The NIH Institutes providing funding and expertise for this effort are the National Institute of Mental Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders.
The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) mission is to reduce the burden of mental and behavioral disorders through research on mind, brain, and behavior. More information is available at the NIMH website ( http://www.nimh.nih.gov/ ).
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation's Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov .