Using Genetic Maps of the Brain to Understand Autism & Related Psychiatric Illnesses

Each month The Brain & Behavior Research Foundation hosts a Meet the Scientist Webinar featuring a researcher discussing the latest findings related to mental illness. In December, 2020, the Foundation featured Dr. Daniel Geschwind of the University of the UCLA School of Medicine.

Description: Genetic studies have identified many regions in the genome that contribute to risk for psychiatric diseases, including autism. Many such genome regions are located outside of areas occupied by genes which encode the myriad proteins that make up our cells and organs. A first step in understanding these “non-coding” genome regions is to create maps of their activity in the developing brain. Dr. Geschwind's work suggests that one component of the risk for childhood disorders, as well as some adult onset disorders, resides in processes that occur in very early stages of fetal brain development. Understanding these processes better can help direct therapeutic and prevention strategies.

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Has anyone done a study to find out if the hormones given to animals are affecting our DNA? Not only are studies needed for an unfathomable increase in autism but also for the explosive increase in kids no longer identifying with their birth sexual identity - or a "misgenderization" of a generation! Are the causes in the food???