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Newsletter #1 - July 2020
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New AIMS-2-TRIALS database developed by Institut Pasteur
A world-leading AIMS-2-TRIALS team at the Institut Pasteur (Paris) has developed a secure database to address the needs of the AIMS-2-TRIALS project, ensuring that large, multidisciplinary datasets from participants across Europe are secure, GDPR compliant and easily...
Reduced flexible behaviour in autism is driven by less optimal learning
AIMS-2-TRIALS researchers from King’s College London have revealed that reduced flexible behaviour in autistic people is underpinned by different dominant learning mechanisms across development, and less optimal learning. Background Flexible behaviour is critical for...
UPDATE: Favourable feedback from European Medicines Agency
Letters of support now available on the EMA website. The AIMS-2-TRIALS consortium has received feedback (qualification advice) from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on the further exploration of EEG (electroencephalography) as a potential ‘biomarker’ in autism...
Exploring the genetics of how infants look at faces and how this may be linked to autism
Genetic instructions in our DNA are able to build a human from scratch and no two human beings are perfectly identical; we differ in our height, eye color, how we look, think, feel and act. Scientists know that differences in our DNA code explain some of these...
Autistic people focus on social information differently to non-autistic people
Over the last decade, researchers have worked hard to identify reliable ways to measure and track the emergence and progression of autism. One promising area of focus has been exploration of how autistic people focus their attention on social cues. Our research In...
Asymmetrical brain patterns can help identify subgroups of autistic people
Autism is a condition that varies a lot between individuals, which means that any therapy or treatment is unlikely to be useful for all autistic people. However, most research does not take such differences between autistic individuals into account. Researchers need...
New analysis technique overcomes limitations in recording infant brain activity
Understanding individual differences in early brain development can help predict long-term outcomes in children who are later found to be autistic. Because children’s brains develop rapidly, measurements need to focus on factors that are relatively stable, rather than...
Professor Emily Jones of Birkbeck University featured on ACAMH Podcast
Professor Emily Jones of Birkbeck University, London was featured on an episode of the Association for Child & Adolescent Mental Health (ACAMH) Podcast discussing the brain, early development, and autism.
Understanding placebo response in clinical trials with autistic people
Placebos, such as sugar pills or saline injections, are designed to have no direct effects, yet treatment with placebo can substantially improve symptoms across many conditions. This is called a placebo response or placebo effect. Researchers often compare results for...
Researchers shine a light on the biology of social skills in autism
Research partners of AIMS-2-TRIALS from Birkbeck University, London have published a paper exploring how a process called DNA methylation plays a role in autism. DNA methylation is a naturally occurring process that happens in all people to different degrees. During...
How quality of life is influenced by depression and anxiety in autism
'Quality of life’ is the satisfaction or general wellbeing that each individual experiences in different aspects of their everyday life, such as their health, education, employment and social relationships. Past research studies have suggested that, on average,...
European Society of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry endorses AIMS-2-TRIALS partner publication
AIMS-2-TRIALS partner and Autism Champion Dr. Joaquin Fuentes, and colleagues Dr. Amaia Hervás and Dr. Patricia Howlin have released a new open-access publication: "ESCAP practice guidance for autism: a summary of evidence-based recommendations for diagnosis and...
Cellular memory of mother’s viral infection could play a role in child’s later brain development
New research led by King’s College London has provided insight into why exposure to inflammation caused by a viral infection during pregnancy may increase the likelihood of altered brain development later on in childhood.Many thanks to KCL for their permission to...
AIMS-2-TRIALS receives favourable feedback from European Medicines Agency
The AIMS-2-TRIALS consortium has received feedback (qualification advice) from the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on the further exploration of EEG (electroencephalography) as a potential ‘biomarker’ in autism research. Finding measures to identify subgroups of...
Researcher training opportunities
The Early Career Researcher Autism Network (ECRAN) hosted their first workshop in July 2020. The workshop brought together 25 postdocs, 10 PhD students and 6 members of the autism community who are researchers themselves or who have a research interest in autism from...
Autism: How gene alteration modifies social behavior
Prof. Peter Scheiffele’s team at the Biozentrum, University of Basel, has discovered a new connection between a genetic modification and social difficulties related to autism: A mutation in the neuroligin-3 gene reduces the effect of the “feel good hormone” oxytocin....
Autism Representatives (A-Reps)
The A-Reps are a group of autistic people, parents and carers from across Europe who have agreed to bring their perspectives on being autistic or caring for an autistic loved one to the AIMS-2-TRIALS research programme. They are coordinated by a team at the University...
Autistic people have quicker and shorter eye movements than non-autistic people
Autistic people have quicker and shorter eye movements and a narrower area of focus than non-autistic people, according to a new study by AIMS-2-TRIALS partners from Goethe University in Frankfurt. Previous research has shown that autistic people tend to look less at...
Elevated likelihood of autism and ADHD influences infants’ motor development
Ten-month old infants at an elevated likelihood of being diagnosed with autism or ADHD reach across their body less than those who are not, shows new research led by AIMS-2-TRIALS partners at the Birkbeck Baby Lab in London. Previous research has shown that general...
Understanding adaptive functioning in autism
Adaptive functioning refers to the ability to manage the demands of day-to-day life. It can include areas such as self-care, travel, shopping, cooking, fine motor skills and communication. It is understood that autistic people may learn some of these skills at a...
AIMS-2-TRIALS’ response to COVID-19
We are all very shocked and saddened by the effect that COVID-19 is having globally. We hope you are keeping safe and well during these uncertain and difficult times. We understand that some of you will be more affected than others either by being ill yourself, having...
Autistic people’s social brain activity is not reduced
An article in Molecular Autism by AIMS-2-TRIALS researchers will report that - contrary to predictions made by previous research – in an analysis of one of the largest data sets of its kind, no group differences were found in the brain activity of autistic and...
Researcher training opportunities
The Early Career Researcher Autism Network was launched earlier this year at the AIMS-2-TRIALS general assembly - an event that saw over thirty researchers share ideas about their training needs. To promote training opportunities for researchers in an early stage of...
Want to get involved?
If you are interested in participating in a research study, you can sign up to our mailing list here (link to come). We will also publish details about studies that are recruiting via our participant recruitment page.
Clinical trials begin at three AIMS-2-TRIALS sites
Development of medicines is a key priority within the AIMS-2-TRIALS research programme and this will be achieved primarily via two clinical trials. A clinical trial is a specific type of research study that evaluates an intervention; in this case a medicine. The main...
Twin-study shows neurological problems are associated with autism
AIMS-2-TRIALS researcher Sven Bölte and PhD student Pei-Yin Pan are part of a team using a new approach to explore the relationship between autism and physical health. Autistic people are known to be at particular risk for physical health issues such as digestive...
Prestigious scientific awards for consortium members
AIMS-2-TRIALS is celebrating prestigious awards received by two consortium members, both based at Kings College London. Oscar Marín, Director of the Centre for Developmental Neurobiology, was unanimously selected by an international jury to receive the Remedios Caro...
EU-AIMS published more research than any other project in its funding call
Congratulations to EU-AIMS, precursor to AIMS-2-TRIALS, which published more research than any other project in the Innovative Medicine Initiatives Joint Undertaking project call 3, with 255 papers by the end of 2017. This finding was reported in an IMI report – a...
A new publication for Autism-Europe
Autism-Europe is an international autism association whose main objectives are to improve public awareness of autism and to advance the rights of autistic people and their families. In September, the third edition of their publication “People with Autism Spectrum...
AIMS-2-TRIALS researchers at key events in Europe
Autism Europe Congress Consortium members participated throughout the Autism Europe Congress 2019 on 13th - 15th September, delivering keynotes, moderating sessions and as part of the scientific committee. James Cusack (Autistica) chaired a keynote session on...
Changing pupil size indicates social abilities in autism
The amount that autistic people’s pupils widen (dilate) when watching others interact and the speed at which this happens is linked with their understanding of social behaviour, shows a study led by AIMS-2-TRIALS researchers. The study is the first to record the...
Declan Murphy & Gráinne McAlonan of KCL on BBC Radio 4
Declan Murphy and Gráinne McAlonan of Kings College London were recently featured on BBC Radio 4's 'D for Diagnosis' with Claudia Hammond, discussing the diagnosis of autism and co-occurring conditions. https://twitter.com/Aims2Trials/status/1158370309495578625
Eye tracking holds clues to the emergence of autism
Ten month old infants later diagnosed with autism use their gaze to attract other’s attention less often than those who are not autistic, shows research led by Terje Falck-Ytter at Uppsala University in Sweden, as part of AIMS-2-TRIALS. “Joint attention is extremely...
Machine learning heralds a new era for autism research
Computer algorithms that can spot patterns in vast amounts of data will drive the future of autism research and help scientists to understand autism’s true complexity and diversity, say AIMS-2-TRIALS researchers in a recent review article. The algorithms’ power comes...
An opportunity to influence European research
The Innovative Medicines Initiative (IMI) wants to hear from youApplications are open for a ‘pool of patient experts’, which will strengthen the role and voice of those with diseases and conditions addressed by IMI research. This will introduce the perspectives of...
Autism Representatives chosen from nearly 100 applications
The recruitment of Autism Representatives for AIMS-2-TRIALS is now complete. In total, 96 applicants from 18 European countries (and one from the US) expressed interest in working with us. This included autistic people and family carers of autistic people. There were...
Researchers reach out to the community
AIMS-2-TRIALS researchers met with autistic people at events across Europe about the future of autism research. At Trinity College Dublin, Ireland, team members from the rare genetic conditions study led an event in February to foster two-way dialogue about the future...