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UC Davis Frontiers

The biology of autism

(June 2007)

Autism has been a big health story in the past two years, perhaps because of the rapid increase in the number of children diagnosed with this neurodevelopmental disorder: 1 in 166 children in our country is now affected, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute, one of the nation's leading centers for autism research, is helping research the mysteries of autism.

In this segment, two of the institute's leading researchers discuss autism and the most promising avenues for finding answers to this perplexing disorder.

David Amaral is a neurologist and research director of the M.I.N.D. Institute, and Judy Van de Water is an immunologist.

Related news

Reading

  • Fact sheet on the Autism Phenome Project (PDF)
  • Fact sheet on the Childhood Autism Risks from Genetics and the Environment Study (PDF)
  • Autism Spectrum Disorders: A Research Review for Practitioners, edited by Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D., Sally J. Rogers, Ph.D., and Robert L. Hendren, D.O., American Psychiatric Publishing, Washington, D.C., 2003.
  • Understanding Autism: From Basic Neuroscience to Treatment, edited by Steven Moldin and John Rubenstein, CRC Taylor and Francis, 2006
  • "The amygdala and autism: implications from non-human primate studies." Amaral DG, Bauman MD, Schumann CM (2003). Genes Brain Behavior 2:295-302.
  • "Stereological analysis of amygdala neuron number in autism." Schumann CM, Amaral DG (2006). Journal of Neuroscience 26:7674-7679.
  • "The amygdala is enlarged in children but not adolescents with autism; the hippocampus is enlarged at all ages." Schumann CM, Hamstra J, Goodlin-Jones BL, Lotspeich LJ, Kwon H, Buonocore MH, Lammers CR, Reiss AL, Amaral DG (2004). Journal of Neuroscience 24:6392-6401.

Web sites

Profiles

David G. Amaral, professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences

Photo: David G. Amaral

Amaral, who has his doctorate in neurobiology and psychology, is a faculty member with the UC Davis School of Medicine and directs research with the UC Davis M.I.N.D. (Medical Investigation of Neurodevelopmental Disorders) Institute. His work looks at how the brain reorganizes to accommodate early-in-life injury, and he is a specialist in the parts of the brain involved in memory, emotion and social interactions.

At the M.I.N.D. Institute, Amaral has expanded his research program to include investigations of brain systems associated with autism. He is coordinating the large-scale, multidisciplinary Autism Phenome Project with the goal of defining subtypes of autism based on distinct behavioral indicators and biological changes.

Contact: David Amaral, M.I.N.D. Institute, dgamaral@ucdavis.edu

Judy Van de Water, professor of rheumatology, allergy and medical immunology

Photo: Judy Van de Water

Also a member of the faculty at UC Davis School of Medicine, Van de Water is a well-known immunologist whose diverse research interests include primary biliary cirrhosis and the immunobiology of autism.

Her current research includes collaboration with the UC Davis M.I.N.D. Institute on a three-year project designed to identify distinct immune responses in children with autism as well as a study with Professor Suzanne Teuber, an authority on food allergies, on the role of food sensitivity in autism.

Moreover, Van de Water is directing the immunological susceptibility core of a study at the UC Davis Children's Center for Environmental Health investigating potential environmental risk factors that contribute to the incidence and severity of childhood autism.

Contact: Judy Van de Water, M.I.N.D. Institute, javandewater@ucdavis.edu