A new study is the first to link social, repetitive and motor behaviors to mutations in BMAL1, which regulates the body’s circadian rhythms.

The drug suppresses an overactive signaling pathway implicated in tuberous sclerosis complex.

Mutations in POGZ, a gene strongly linked to autism, lead to a signaling imbalance in multiple brain regions in mice, according to two new studies.

Long known as the director of movement, the cerebellum may also coordinate social and cognitive abilities, including those central to autism.

Despite social media rumors, a British children’s television show does not cause autism; childhood anesthesia is not tied to autism risk; and an adult on the spectrum reaches a haunting milestone

New evidence from both people and mice points to a part of the cerebellum that helps process social information as being critical in autism.

Researchers can coax human stem cells to grow into layered structures that mimic the brain’s center for motor control, the cerebellum.

The autism-linked gene AUTS2 activates a group of genes that may be important for early brain development. The findings, published 18 December in Nature, hint at AUTS2’s potential role in autism and other developmental disorders.

An overabundance of neuronal connections in the brains of people with autism may contribute to the motor impairments associated with the disorder.
 

A treatment that targets the genetic defect in tuberous sclerosis prevents autism-like symptoms in mice at 6 weeks of age — the mouse equivalent of adolescence. Researchers presented the unpublished results yesterday at the 2014 Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in Washington, D.C.