UNC Autism Study Expanded; More Than 540 Infants To Be Studied

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UNC Autism Study Expanded; More Than 540 Infants To Be Studied

By NBC 17, Press Release, 51 minutes ago

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. -

http://is.gd/8O2x

UNC Chapel Hill researchers have received an additional $3.25 million

in funding for an Infant Brain Imaging Study (IBIS) to understand

brain changes in children with autism.

The original IBIS study was awarded $10 million in 2007 by the

National Institutes of Health to follow 544 infants, aged 6 and 12

months, whose older siblings are autistic. Infants would receive

behavioral assessments and magnetic resonance (MRI) exams at regular

intervals to monitor brain growth and onset of autistic behaviors.

The study builds on two key findings from researchers. The first is

that the brains of children with autism are five to 10 percent larger

at two years of age than children without autism. Overgrowth is

believed to begin around the end of the child's first year of life.

The second finding is that onset of social deficits associated with

autism do not occur until the end of the first year.

" Once these brain and behavioral changes are identified, potential

benefits might include the development of early screening measures for

autism and a better understanding of the underlying brain mechanisms,

which we hope will lead to treatments to prevent or reduce the

problems that individuals with autism face, " said ph Piven, M.D.,

the study's principal investigator and director of the Carolina

Institute for Developmental Disabilities.

The NIH recently awarded the project supplemental funding of $500,000

per year for five years and the Simons Foundation Autism Research

Initiative provided $150,000 a year for five years.

Piven said the additional funding will allow researchers to examine

all 544 children at all time points, instead of focusing only on those

that are most likely to develop autism