Is the search for biomarkers of autism a worthwhile endeavor? Noah Sasson, professor of psychology at the University of Texas at Dallas, mulled over this question in a recent tweet thread, which began with a quote from a new review of autism biomarker research: “There is currently no response biomarker with sufficient evidence to inform ASD clinical trials.”
In theory, biomarkers could enable early detection, Sasson wrote, but “I’m skeptical about their potential utility in this regard for several reasons, and question whether they offer improvement over established clinical practice.”
I’m skeptical about their potential utility in this regard for several reasons, and question whether they offer improvement over established clinical practice.
First, autism is multifaceted with tremendous heterogeneity and likely doesn’t have a uniform underlying physiology.
— Noah Sasson (@Noahsasson) December 7, 2022
“Autism is multifaceted with tremendous heterogeneity and likely doesn’t have a uniform underlying physiology,” Sasson noted.
“Always surprises me when researchers believe that a group of behaviours … will have a common biological marker across the autistic population,” remarked Twitter user Graham Mead.
Always surprises me when researchers believe that a group of behaviours such as RRBs, social interaction and atypical sensory experiences will have a common biological marker across the autistic population.
— Graham Mead (@twillierod) December 7, 2022
One of Sasson’s points highlights the opportunity cost of biomarker research, which “comes at the expense of other funding needs.”
Finally, there’s an opportunity cost to so much funding going to biomarker research. I’m not inherently against it at a symptom level– it may help identify biological contributors to some disabling co-occurring aspects– but these $ comes at the expense of other funding needs.
— Noah Sasson (@Noahsasson) December 7, 2022
Sue Fletcher-Watson, professor of developmental psychology at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, called it an “excellent thread neatly summarising the pointless quest for autism biomarkers.”
excellent thread neatly summarising the pointless quest for autism biomarkers https://t.co/vtFyrAcioq
— Sue Fletcher-Watson (@SueReviews) December 7, 2022
In another thread, the U21 Autism Research Network — a collaboration among six research groups around the world — detailed its new study, which “asked 654 autistic adults across multiple countries … to tell us about their autism-related language preferences.”
In this mixed methods study, we asked 654 autistic adults across multiple countries (e.g., Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, UK, USA, etc.) to tell us about their autism-related language preferences. Here’s what they said…????2/15 pic.twitter.com/SoD68gV0as
— U21 Autism Research Network (@AutismU21) December 7, 2022
Respondents favored the term ‘autistic person’ over ‘person on the spectrum’ and ‘person with autism,’ and they preferred the terms ‘differences,’ ‘challenges’ and ‘difficulties’ over medicalized words such as ‘disease,’ ‘impairments’ and ‘deficits.’ The data “demonstrate that there is no universally accepted way to talk about autism,” the researchers concluded. They also noted that their findings may not be representative of those with intellectual disabilities or communicative differences, because they did not ask participants to provide this information.
The Birmingham Psychology Autism Research Team called the thread a “must-read for researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and society more broadly.”
Check out this fantastic thread summarising which terms we should use to talk about #autism! A must-read for researchers, clinicians, policymakers, and society more broadly ???????????????? https://t.co/ciEpcrbLic
— Birmingham Psychology Autism Research Team (@BhamASDResearch) December 7, 2022
“So happy to see this work published where we asked English-speaking #ActuallyAutistic adults around the world about their autism-related language preferences,” tweeted Sophie Sowden, lead investigator of the research network.
So happy to see this work published where we asked English-speaking #ActuallyAutistic adults around the world about their autism-related language preferences (work facilitated by an amazing @AutismU21 @u21news collaboration)! Follow the????to hear what our participants had to say: https://t.co/Q3Fz1siayD
— Dr Sophie Sowden (@Sophie_Sowden) December 7, 2022
Sarah O’Brien, a graduate student at King’s College London in the United Kingdom, tweeted that the research “builds upon conversations that have long existed within the autistic community and really solidifies the convictions I have about language when it comes to how we, as autistic people, refer to ourselves and others.”
This work builds upon conversations that have long existed within the autistic community and really solidifies the convictions I have about language when it comes to how we, as autistic people, refer to ourselves and others. ⤵️ https://t.co/GmTzRgyXGa
— sarah o’brien (@SarahMarieOB) December 8, 2022
The last thread to catch our attention this week came from Ruth Styfhals, a graduate student of developmental neurobiology at Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium, who described her and her colleagues’ “work on the mysterious cell types in the octopus brain.” Along with sharing some beautiful imagery — one commenter remarked that the octopuses looked like Christmas tree ornaments — Styfhals detailed how they sequenced the octopus brain to uncover the “cell types that control their sophisticated behavioral repertoire.”
We sequenced the octopus brain with two different methods; single nuclei versus single cell RNA sequencing, and analyzed the differences between the two. ScRNAseq captured more heat shock proteins and immediate early genes while more lncRNA’s were found in the snRNAseq. 2/7 pic.twitter.com/1JUL6DDbQq
— Ruth Styfhals (@Ruth_Styfhals) December 7, 2022
Along with an octopus emoji, the Siegenthaler Lab at the University of Colorado in Aurora tweeted, “New work on octopus brain atlas…and my day just got better because octopus appear to have meninges?!?!”
???? new work on octopus brain atlas…and my day just got better because octopus appear to have meninges?!?! ???? https://t.co/2rvs4XHhDp pic.twitter.com/RnEb78Ogj9
— Siegenthaler_Lab (@SiegenthalerLab) December 7, 2022
“It’s incredible how complex an invertebrate mollusk brain is, even at this early stage of development,” tweeted Eric Chang, assistant professor of neuroscience at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, also using an octopus emoji.
Wow this is very cool work! It’s incredible how complex an invertebrate mollusk brain is, even at this early stage of development ???? https://t.co/hEzT9OjZEC
— Eric H Chang (@changsbrain) December 7, 2022
Grisha Zolotarov, a graduate student at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona, Spain, shared a cartoon he created in which octopuses are learning how to build their brains.
Amazing artwork from @zolotarg nicely summarizing our paper!!! Octopuses learning how to build their brains??????? https://t.co/omftFmpn8W
— Ruth Styfhals (@Ruth_Styfhals) December 7, 2022
That’s it for this week’s Community Newsletter! If you have any suggestions for interesting social posts you saw in the autism research sphere, feel free to send an email to [email protected].
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