Endophenotype

Recent articles

Brain made up of two different medicines

Meet the company trying precision medicine for autism

Swiss biotech Stalicla hopes to bring precision medicine to autism. Experts praise efforts to identify autism subgroups, but evidence to support the company’s claims has yet to be seen.

By Giorgia Guglielmi
27 June 2022 | 12 min listen
Book cover conceptual illustration of chromosome superimposed with genetic tree.

A whisper of autism: Fragile X carriers and the autism phenotype

Among people who carry the fragile X premutation, about 14 percent of boys and 5 percent of girls meet the criteria for autism, but the ‘broad autism phenotype’ may be far more common.

By Anne Skomorowsky
21 April 2022 | 14 min read
organoids in early stages of development.

Organoids show how mutations in top autism gene may lead to brain overgrowth in people

The loss of CHD8, a top autism gene, speeds up the production of certain neurons and leads to overgrowth in spheres of cultured brain cells.

By Peter Hess
19 April 2022 | 3 min read
Mother and child having a conversation in nature.

Traits in mothers may signal gene variants for autism

Autistic children's traits track with subtle, autism-like behaviors in their mothers; women with these traits may also carry a genetic predisposition to the condition.

By Taylor White
16 October 2020 | 5 min read
Baby looking up at father's face.

Siblings of children with autism may process faces their own way

Children who have autistic older siblings have bigger neural responses than controls do in the brain networks that process faces.

By Laura Dattaro
16 April 2020 | 5 min read
Man and woman portraits on a 'family tree'

What the ‘broad spectrum’ can teach us about autism

The relatives of autistic people often have mild traits of the condition. Studying these family members could broaden our understanding of autism.

By Lydia Denworth
15 May 2019 | 14 min read

Siblings of children with autism may have trouble with motor tasks

Siblings of children with autism have motor difficulties similar to those in autistic children, but milder.

By Rachel Zamzow
4 November 2018 | 2 min read
Genes may partly account for difficulties in processing biological motion.

Movement perception, autism traits may share genetic roots

The ability to identify human-like movements is rooted in genetics — and may share those origins with autism traits.

By Sarah DeWeerdt
19 February 2018 | 5 min read

Social gaze patterns strikingly consistent between identical twins

Identical twins, who have virtually the same genetic material, show highly similar patterns of eye movements when looking at faces, suggesting that social gaze is hardwired.

By Nicholette Zeliadt
14 May 2016 | 3 min read

Treatment eases fragile X symptoms in flies, mice

Blocking an enzyme involved in learning and memory corrects brain abnormalities and improves memory in fly and mouse models of fragile X syndrome.

By Kate Yandell
9 March 2015 | 5 min read

Explore more from The Transmitter

Illustration of a lab with a smoking crater in the middle of the floor.

A scientific fraud. An investigation. A lab in recovery.

Science is built on trust. What happens when someone destroys it?

By Calli McMurray
4 October 2024 | 26 min read
Illustration of hands sewing red and white threads in a DNA-like pattern into a blue-gray fabric.

Untangling biological threads from autism’s phenotypic patchwork reveals four core subtypes

People belonging to the same subtype share genetic variants, behaviors and often co-occurring diagnoses, according to a new preprint.

By Holly Barker
3 October 2024 | 5 min read
Illustration of a colorful, donut-shaped object resting on a distorted plane with its own topography.

Neural manifolds: Latest buzzword or pathway to understand the brain?

When you cut away the misconceptions, neural manifolds present a conceptually appropriate level at which systems neuroscientists can study the brain.

By Matthew Perich
2 October 2024 | 8 min read