The Lancet Neurology: Autism Series media alert

The Lancet Neurology journal is pleased to announce that the following papers will be published as part of a Series on autism spectrum disorder, ahead of the 2015 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Neurology:

• Gene hunting in autism spectrum disorder: on the path to precision medicine [Embargo: 6:30pm [New York time] Thursday 16 April, 2015]
• Neuroimaging in autism spectrum disorder: brain structure and function across the lifespan [Embargo: 6:30pm [New York time] Thursday 16 April, 2015]

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is a neurodevelopmental disorder that affects about one in 100 people worldwide, and is heavily influenced by genetics. This Series paper, published in The Lancet Neurology, discusses how different 'risk genes' contribute to ASD, as well as their use as potential therapeutic targets. Recent advances in genetic technologies--for example, gene hunting (the process of finding specific genes that contribute to physical individual differences)--promise to improve understanding of the mechanisms of ASD, and to help improve its clinical management. The paper authors argue that new evidence of genetic interactions in individual patients could help to develop new, more personalised, classes of therapies for ASD.

This Series paper, published in The Lancet Neurology, discusses how neuroimaging studies, such as those that use magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), are helping us to understand differences in brain anatomy, functioning, and connectivity in people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) over their lifespan. The paper authors describe how in the future, the insights provided by these studies could contribute to new clinical approaches to the diagnosis and treatment of ASD and other neurodevelopmental disorders.

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