UCSD Researcher Gets 1.85 Million Dollar Autism Grant

 

The research team at UCSD school of medicine has received a $1.85 million dollar grant. The money will go to continuing their research towards developing drugs dedicated to helping those with autism.

By using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) from autistic donors, Dr. Alysson Muotri is able to create autistic brain cells on which he can test new drugs. This allows a research team to safely administer and monitor testing through a microscope, on small batches of individually affected cells.

In total 40 million dollars of research money has been partitioned out. The running total since 2006 now sits at 143 million from the California Research Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Dr. Alysson Muotri graduated from the University of Sao Paulo in 2001 with a Ph. D. in genetics. He completed his postdoctoral work at the Salk Institute in La Jolla, specializing in neurobiology and he continues his work today at the UCSD school of medicine as an assistant professor. Dr. Muotri is also the father of Ivan, an autistic child.

For more information you can visit UCSD’s webpage or view an NBC article.