Like many patients visiting a doctor’s office, Kim Sebenoler started out her appointment by heading to the nearest restroom to give a urine sample. But her visit to the lab of John Constantino, MD, director of the William Greenleaf Eliot Division of Child Psychiatry, was not a typical exam. The goal was not to measure proteins in her urine or check her overall wellness.
Instead, researchers took her urine cells to replicate human brain cell function in a Petri dish. The study is one of three major approaches School of Medicine researchers are using to unravel the physical and psychological underpinnings of autism. The unique, multifaceted effort — studying genes, brain activity patterns and behavior — is giving researchers and practitioners a better understanding of the disorder, which today affects one in every 100 Americans.
The cells are helping co-investigators Constantino and neuroscientist Azad Bonni, MD, PhD, explore how brain function changes in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Both researchers are international leaders — Constantino in clinical autism studies and Bonni in advancing understanding of the underlying mechanisms of brain development.
Read more about the study in the School of Medicine’s Outlook Magazine.