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Funded Grants

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A multi-platform approach to the functional assessment of ASD gene variants

Project Overview

The high and potentially increasing prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is taking a significant emotional and economic toll on patients, their families and Canadian society. Although progress has been made in identifying genes associated with ASD, the underlying mechanism of this disorder remains unknown. Recently, several exome-sequencing studies of thousands of patients and their families have been completed yielding hundreds of genes loosely linked to ASD. It is as of yet unknown how these multiple genes give rise to the disease. Traditional, slow throughput methods testing individual gene variants at one time are untenable when 4 to 30 variants need to be tested for tens to hundreds of genes. For this project, Ms. Post will use bioinformatics and high-throughput biological systems to screen for gene mutations most likely to provide strong phenotypes in secondary slower throughput assays. This strategy will allow rapid categorization of large numbers of mutations of individual ASD-associated genes into smaller subsets that all produce the same phenotypes. This strategy will both provide insight to underlying molecular pathways mediating pathophysiology, and allow reduction of the number of variants to focus on by selecting representative mutations that produce the strongest phenotypes within their group. These representative gene mutants will then be tested in lower throughput model systems that more accurately examine their effect on neuronal and neural circuit development. Such a combination of high and low throughput pipelines is our best hope at rapidly identifying the causes of ASD.

Principal Investigator

Kathryn Post , Brain Research Centre, University of British Columbia

Partners and Donors

Djavad Mowfaghian Centre for Brain Health

Project Complete

A multi-platform approach to the functional assessment of ASD gene variants

  • Grant Type

    Capacity building grants

  • Area of research

    Neurodevelopment

  • Disease Area

    Autism

  • Competition

    Brain Canada - Kids Brain Health Network Training Awards

  • Province

    British Columbia

  • Start Date

    2016

  • Total Grant Amount

    $70,000

  • Health Canada Contribution

    $35,000

Contact Us

1200 McGill College Avenue
Suite 1600, Montreal, Quebec
H3B 4G7

+1 (514) 989-2989 info@braincanada.ca

Please note all online donations will receive an electronic tax receipt, issued by Brain Canada Foundation.

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Territorial acknowledgement

The offices of Brain Canada Foundation are located on the traditional, ancestral territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka Peoples, a place which has long served as a site of meeting and exchange amongst nations. We honour and pay respect to elders past, present and emerging, and dedicate ourselves to moving forward in the spirit of partnership, collaboration, and reconciliation. In our work, we focus our efforts on the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action, particularly those that pertain to improving health for Indigenous Peoples and that focus on advancing our own learning on Indigenous issues.

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