News
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...
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...
