{"id":371,"date":"2023-08-10T15:21:35","date_gmt":"2023-08-10T15:21:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pediatricbrainfoundation.org\/archive\/ut-southwestern-collect-brain-tissue-autism-research\/"},"modified":"2023-08-10T15:21:35","modified_gmt":"2023-08-10T15:21:35","slug":"ut-southwestern-collect-brain-tissue-autism-research","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/pediatricbrainfoundation.org\/archive\/ut-southwestern-collect-brain-tissue-autism-research\/","title":{"rendered":"UT Southwestern to collect brain tissue for autism research"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00ab Back to Scientific News<\/a><\/div>\n<\/section><\/div>\n
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UT Southwestern to collect brain tissue for autism research <\/h1>\n<\/section><\/div>\n
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\n Wednesday, June 18, 2014<\/span>  \u00b7  Posted by Dallas News <\/a> <\/div>\n

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The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has launched a brain tissue collection program to support autism research.<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center has launched a brain tissue collection program to support autism research.<\/p>\n

The medical school is one of four sites nationwide that will collect, store and distribute brain tissue to scientists studying the disease, which affects an estimated one in 68 children.<\/p>\n

UT Southwestern is an inaugural member of Autism BrainNet, an initiative created last year by The Simons Foundation, Autism Speaks and the Autism Science Foundation. The group also created an outreach program and tissue donation registration site called It Takes Brains.<\/p>\n

UT Southwestern will collect autistic and normal brain tissue samples in the South Central and Midwest regions of the U.S. to be distributed to researchers around the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recognized incidence of autism has increased dramatically over the past 10 years,\u201d said Dr. Carol Tamminga, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at UT Southwestern. \u201cBecause we know so little about the molecular brain mechanisms of autism, research with this tissue is extremely important so that we can learn about its neural networks and identify new targets for novel therapies.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Autism BrainNet initiative will also enhance studies that are underway on autism-related conditions such as Fragile X syndrome. Dr. Kimberly Huber, a professor of neuroscience; Dr. Jay Gibson, an associate professor of neuroscience; and Dr. John Sweeney, a professor of psychiatry and pediatrics, have conducted research on Fragile X gene mutation at UT Southwestern.<\/p>\n

Other institutions participating in Autism BrainNet are the University of California, Davis MIND Institute, the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York and the Harvard University\/Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. More sites are expected to join in the future.<\/p>\n

The focus of the It Takes Brains website is to educate families affected by autism about brain tissue donation. Researchers nationwide have already discovered that:<\/p>\n

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