04/02/2021
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April 2 is declared the by the United Nations. Today, we are showcasing just a few of the exceptional RI-MUHC researchers working to understand autism spectrum disorder.
Aparna Suvrathan, PhD, in the Program, is a recipient of an Azrieli Centre for Autism Research (ACAR) grant. Her lab investigates how learning is encoded by the brain, focusing on how synaptic connections between neurons undergo changes during learning. Her team studies the cerebellum, which in addition to its role in movement learning is strongly implicated in autism spectrum disorders.
Guillaume Sรฉbire, MD, PhD, is a child neurologist and senior scientist in the CHHD program. Dr. Sรฉbire aims to develop new neuroprotective anti-inflammatory treatments to prevent neurological handicaps in children. He studies bacterial infection during pregnancy that may lead to inflammation of the placenta and may be linked to neurodevelopmental conditions in preterm infants, including autism.
Mayada Elsabbagh, PhD, is co-director of the Transforming Autism Care Consortium (TACA), a Quebec research network, and a scientist in the Child Health and Human development ( ) program. Her work has identified very early brain function markers for autism, found prior to behavioural symptoms.
Ioannis Trakadis MD, MSc, also in the BRaIN Program, takes advantage of genomic tools and downstream functional data to advance clinical psychiatric genetics. His team recently published a novel method applying machine learning to analyze genomic data. Their approach successfully differentiated autism spectrum disorder (ASD) from schizophrenia, a genetically overlapping psychiatric disease. Dr. Trakadis' research program aims to improve our understanding of the genomic architecture of ASD and other psychiatric diseases to advance precision medicine.
On this , we thank all our researchers, trainees, volunteers, funding agencies and donors.
(en franรงais : Institut de recherche du Centre universitaire de santรฉ McGill)