INSAR 2022

Recent articles

Woman sits on a hospital bed and looks out of a window.

Psychiatric conditions hospitalize almost one in three autistic women by age 25

The findings, based on Swedish national registry data, suggest a critical need to expand mental health services for autistic people.

By Niko McCarty
31 October 2022 | 3 min read
Lab mice (Mus musculus), tribe Balbc, three 13 day old babies with eyes still closed, laying side by side

Sleepy mice with autism-linked mutation struggle to fall asleep

Mice with a mutated copy of SHANK3 fail to establish normal sleep patterns during development.

By Peter Hess
12 September 2022 | 3 min read
A woman in a white lab coat uses a micropipette

Modified CRISPR tool boosts UBE3A levels in mice

A deactivated form of the gene editor restores UBE3A expression in mice and human neurons without cutting the genome. It may hold promise for future Angelman gene therapies.

By Niko McCarty
20 May 2022 | 4 min read

Structural brain changes foretell language skills in autistic infants

Increased white-matter maturation tracks with stronger language abilities later in childhood, but the relationship with cortical thickness is less clear.

By Angie Voyles Askham, Peter Hess
19 May 2022 | 4 min read

Researchers publish new dataset on minimally verbal autistic people

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology published the first repository of vocalizations from minimally verbal autistic people. Those with few or no spoken words still produce a range of phonemes, or units of sound, that may serve as developmental markers or intervention targets.

By Shelby Grebbin
18 May 2022 | 4 min read
Child in dark room with thermometer showing 100.8.

Fever doesn’t ease challenging traits in most autistic children

The findings contradict a previous study, whose design may have been biased to find an effect.

By Angie Voyles Askham
17 May 2022 | 3 min read
Young woman sitting alone at window in the shadows.

Autistic LGBTQ+ people report frequent mental health problems

The co-occurring conditions may stem from the heightened stress people in minority communities experience.

By Niko McCarty
16 May 2022 | 2 min read
Three views of zebrafish.

Novel gene linked to brain size in autistic people

The gene, YTHDF2, may be one of several that contribute to an autism subtype marked by an unusually big brain.

By Laura Dattaro
16 May 2022 | 2 min read

Clinicians lack confidence in diagnostic interviews with Black mothers

Implicit biases might be to blame, and the discrepancy persists across clinics, regardless of maternal education, family income and a child’s IQ score.

By Niko McCarty
13 May 2022 | 4 min read
Speech bubble formed by a network of communication

INSAR Community Newsletter: Tweets & murmurs from Day Three

We are covering the talks in Austin, Texas, this week, plus what the research community is talking about online, in the Lone Star Ballroom and around town.

By Spectrum
13 May 2022 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Pixelated human brain scans showing the distribution of mitochondria.

Mitochondrial ‘landscape’ shifts across human brain

Evolutionarily newer regions sport mitochondria with a higher capacity for energy production than older regions, according to the first detailed map of the organelles in a tissue slice, adding to mounting evidence that the brain features a metabolic gradient.

By Claudia López Lloreda
25 April 2025 | 6 min read
A clinician holds a clipboard while someone else sits on a couch.

Expediting clinical trials for profound autism: Q&A with Matthew State

Aligning Research to Impact Autism, a new initiative funded by the Sergey Brin Family Foundation, wants to bring basic science discoveries to the clinic faster.

By Lauren Schenkman
24 April 2025 | 8 min read
Illustration of astrocytes in a petri dish.

This paper changed my life: Shane Liddelow on two papers that upended astrocyte research

A game-changing cell culture method developed in Ben Barres’ lab completely transformed the way we study astrocytes and helped me build a career studying their reactive substates.

By Shane Liddelow
23 April 2025 | 6 min read