Could Genetics Hold the Answer to Curing Autism?

September 15, 2014

(NPR) – Geneticist Wendy Chung describes what it’s like to chip away at the mysteries of autism, and the excitement of uncovering tiny but critical clues. Wendy Chung is the director of clinical research at the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative, which does both basic and applied science to serve people affected by autism spectrum disorders. She’s the principal investigator of the foundation’s Simons Variation in Individuals Project, which characterizes behavior and brain structure and function in participants with genetic copy number variants such as those at 16p11.2, which are believed to play a role in spectrum disorders.