{"id":20831,"date":"2017-08-11T11:19:49","date_gmt":"2017-08-11T15:19:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/college.unc.edu\/?p=20831"},"modified":"2024-07-02T16:36:34","modified_gmt":"2024-07-02T16:36:34","slug":"autism-research-center","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collegearchive.unc.edu\/?p=20831","title":{"rendered":"Researchers ramp up new UNC Autism Research Center"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"ast-oembed-container \" style=\"height: 100%;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The new UNC Autism Research Center\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/n1al3Y4V8WM?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>UNC-Chapel Hill has long been one of the world\u2019s premier autism research universities, and now its expertise and leading research programs will fall under one virtual roof at the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/autism.unc.edu\/\">UNC Autism Research Center<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The goal of the new center is to accelerate the creation of more effective, personalized treatments and interventions for the millions of people with autism spectrum disorder across the lifespan.<\/p>\n<p>To fund the start of the center, including the hiring of a program manager, the William R. Kenan Jr. Charitable Trust has committed $100,000 in the center\u2019s first year, and a matching gift in the second year\u00a0contingent on the center raising $200,000.<\/p>\n<p>While the center will be housed within the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cidd.unc.edu\/\">Carolina Institute for Development Disabilities<\/a>\u00a0(CIDD) at the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/\">UNC School of Medicine<\/a>, its researchers will span the University, working across all areas of autism research \u2013 genetics, development, biomedical and cognitive.<\/p>\n<p>The College of Arts &amp; Sciences departments of biology, computer science and psychology and neuroscience are all participating in autism research at the center.<\/p>\n<p>More than 100 faculty, students and postdoctoral researchers from 32 departments within five schools currently work on autism-related grants at Carolina.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFrom cells to service, Carolina has been a leader in autism for a long time,\u201d said Joseph Piven, co-chair of the center\u2019s executive committee and director of the CIDD and research professor in psychology and neuroscience. \u201cNow we have the opportunity to collaborate like never before, to devise and fund research projects with an unprecedented breadth of expertise to further the autism field and help people here in North Carolina and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One in 68 children in the United States is diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, which is characterized by a wide range of challenges related to communication, social skills and repetitive behaviors. North Carolina\u2019s autism rate is above the national average with about 65,000 people diagnosed with the condition, which is more common in boys.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis new center gives us the opportunity to work with basic scientists and clinical researchers on a much deeper level to pursue more targeted and effective interventions,\u201d said Laura Klinger, director of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.teacch.com\/\">UNC TEACCH Autism Program<\/a>. \u201cCollaborative research will help us understand which interventions work for which individual with autism at which point in their lifespan. Already, we use what our researchers discover to help people with autism, families, and teachers. The center will expedite this.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sam Odom, co-chair of the center\u2019s executive committee and director of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/fpg.unc.edu\/\">Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute<\/a>, said, \u201cThe research center holds great promise for building on our knowledge about biological causes of autism, the range of characteristics of individuals with autism, behavioral interventions to address development and learning needs, and the most effective interventions matched to the needs of individuals with autism.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>One path toward targeted treatments runs through the study of genetics. It could be that different autism symptoms are linked to different genetic subtypes. If so, then addressing underlying genetics might benefit people with autism. For this, basic scientists, clinical researchers, health care professionals and families must work together to figure out the best ways forward.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Zylka, director of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/neuroscience\">UNC Neuroscience Center<\/a>, said the multiple units on campus conducting autism research have historically done their own work, quite successfully.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Piven\u2019s group at CIDD published a wave of scientific papers showing it is possible to predict which high-familial risk infants will develop autism as toddlers. Piven is also one of few researchers in the country studying autism in older people. Odom and Klinger\u2019s labs are developing behavioral intervention programs for adolescents and young adults focused on improved quality of life in adulthood.<\/p>\n<p>Zylka\u2019s lab and colleague Ben Philpot\u2019s have conducted experiments showing how different chemicals, including fungicides, can affect genes linked to autism. Epidemiologist Julie Daniels of the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/sph.unc.edu\/\">Gillings School of Global Public Health<\/a>\u00a0created a method to study early life exposure to flame retardants and pollutants. Daniels is the director of the North Carolina sites of the Study to Explore Early Development (SEED), the largest epidemiological study in the world designed to compare children with autism and other developmental delays with people who do not have such delays.<\/p>\n<p>Research projects that cross traditional research boundaries don\u2019t typically get NIH funding. Zylka said the center will help researchers attract funding for innovative project, foster new collaborations and ultimately help people with autism and their families.<\/p>\n<p>The collaborative approach also will help Carolina faculty train the next generation of autism researchers, especially postdoctoral fellows, to think broadly about their research and include people outside their immediate areas of expertise. The center plans to fund interdisciplinary postdoctoral fellowships, as well.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Story by Mark Derewicz of UNC Health Care and video by Carly Swain, University Communications<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The new UNC Autism Research Center will accelerate the creation of more effective, personalized treatments and interventions for the millions of people with autism spectrum disorder across.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":20833,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center 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