Neurobiological Variability in Individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorders

Friday, December 14, 2018

1:30 PM-3:00 PM

Speaker: Dr. Jennifer Bruno, Center for Interdisciplinary Brain Sciences Research Stanford University School of Medicine

Individuals with autism spectrum disorders are known to vary widely in the type and severity of symptoms they experience. Understanding symptom variability is critical to advance early identification and personalized interventions. Individuals with fragile X syndrome, the leading single gene cause for autism spectrum disorder, can play an important role in understanding autism symptoms. In this talk I will discuss objective metrics of variability in individuals with fragile X syndrome and idiopathic autism spectrum disorders. Specifically, I will discuss neurobiological variability as assessed by multimodal brain imaging (functional and structural MRI) and how this variability can help us further understand the variability and development of behavioral symptoms of autism. Knowledge of neurobiological variability can be used to plan treatments and provide measures of individual response to treatment. I will also discuss applications of non-invasive optical brain imaging (functional near infrared spectroscopy or fNIRS) which can be used to quantify brain functioning in diverse populations and in naturalistic settings. fNIRS offers immense potential as a cost-effective developmental and treatment outcome that can readily be applied in large scale studies and in community settings.

Contact Information

Jaime Fountaine
jef89@drexel.edu