Autism and Developmental Disorders Research | Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences | UC Davis Health

Description
This project utilizes shed deciduous teeth to measure prenatal environmental exposures, which will be linked to neurodevelopmental outcomes in children at risk for autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Funding
National Institutes of Health

Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
sozonoff@ucdavis.edu

An investigation of transdiagnostic mechanisms underlying ASD and ADHD traits among infants at risk

Description
This study seeks to identify early markers of self-regulation and social communication symptoms across early development with a focus on attention regulation, emotion regulation, and psychophysiological indicators as they relate to autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) traits.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Mental Health

Meghan R. Miller, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator
mrhmiller@ucdavis.edu

Description
Autism BrainNet is a collaborative network of brain tissue collection sites that will enable the highest quality and most rigorous research into the causes of autism spectrum disorder. Our postmortem brain resource will generate data that will contribute to the development of preventions, treatments, and cures to improve the quality of life for individuals with autism spectrum disorder.

Funding
Simons Foundation

David G. Amaral, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
dgamaral@ucdavis.edu

Cynthia M. Schumann, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
cschumann@ucdavis.edu

Description
Decades of research have established that racial ethnic minority, low-income, and/or non-English speaking children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) are diagnosed later than white children, and their families experience greater difficulty accessing services. The goal of the Autism Intervention Research Network on Behavioral Health (AIR-B Network), is to work with community partners to increase access to ASD services for families from traditionally underserved populations.

Funding
Human Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)

Aubyn C. Stahmer, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
astahmer@ucdavis.edu

Connie Kasari, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator, UCLA

Description
This project is focused on evaluating whether computational Natural Language Processing methods can be translated into meaningful outcome measures for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders including, Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Description
This project is focused on evaluating whether computational natural language processing methods can be translated into meaningful outcome measures for individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders including, Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, autism spectrum disorder, and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder. The aims are to: (1) identify pivotal parameter settings that optimize stability of automated discourse measures generated from naturalistic language samples (NLS) and examine responsiveness to real change; (2) evaluate the consistency of these NLS automated discourse measures and identify key measurement factors that impact consistency; and (3) evaluate the validity of these automated discourse measures and differences in validity as a function of diagnostic group, IQ, and language ability.

Funding
National Institutes Health

Angela Thurman, Ph.D.

Co-Investigator
ajthurman@ucdavis.edu

Description
The goal of this Center for the Development of Phenotype-Based Treatments of Autism Spectrum Disorder study is to evaluate cognitive processes and neural circuitry alterations in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and megalencephaly.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Christine Nordahl, Ph.D.
Project Lead
cnordahl@ucdavis.edu

David G. Amaral, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
dgamaral@ucdavis.edu

BUILDS MARBLES: Biorepository upkeep and infrastructure for longitudinal data sharing for MARBLES

Description
This project continues to enroll and follow participants of an enriched-risk autism spectrum disorders (ASD) cohort. Funding permits further development and maintenance of the repository infrastructure for data and biological samples.

Funding
National Institutes of Health

Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
sozonoff@ucdavis.edu

Center for the Development of Phenotype-Based Treatments of Autism Spectrum Disorder

Description
The UC Davis MIND Institute Center for the Development of Phenotype-Based Treatments of Autism Spectrum Disorder aims to discover effective treatments for subgroups of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). The Center starts from the premise that one treatment will not fit all children with ASD.

If clinically meaningful subgroups can be identified on the basis of behavioral, biological or genetic features, treatments targeted to the characteristics of the subgroup will undoubtedly be more effective. The Center’s relevance to public health is evident as the behavioral and biological diagnostic information gathered will inform the most effective treatment decisions and greatest reduction of disability for individuals with ASD.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Researchers

Description
The goal of the proposed project is to validate a battery of early cognition measures for use in treatment studies that target areas of cognitive vulnerability (e.g., executive function, spatial processing, and memory) in young children with Down syndrome.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Connecting the Dots: An RCT Integrating Standardized ASD Screening, High-Quality Treatment, and Long-Term Outcomes

Description
This randomized controlled trial (RCT) compares the effectiveness of early standardized screening coupled with high quality early intervention to usual care screening for children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Funding
National Institutes of Health | National Institute of Mental Health

Aubyn C. Stahmer, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
astahmer@ucdavis.edu

Diana L. Robins, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, Drexel University

Developing an empirically-based adaptation and training model for intervention scale-up of CPRT

Description
Classroom Pivotal Response Teaching (CPRT) is a behavioral intervention for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) that was systematically adapted for teacher use. This project will further develop an interactive data-based decision tree to provide an empirical method for adapting evidence-based practices for individual students and settings and will develop and pilot test a distance training and coaching model.

Funding
Institute of Education Sciences

Aubyn C. Stahmer, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
astahmer@ucdavis.edu

Jessica Suhrheinrich, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, San Diego State University

Description
This project brings together collaborating teams at UC Davis MIND Institute, Colorado State University, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, and the University of Louisville to evaluate the feasibility and psychometric properties of a variety of prelinguistic and spoken language metrics collected in naturalistic contexts for use in treatment studies focused on young children with Down syndrome (DS).

The aims are to (1) evaluate the psychometrics of four metrics of early communication development, (2) evaluate the psychometrics of four metrics of spoken language ability, and (3) characterize the developmental trajectories of these various prelinguistic and spoken language metrics in young children with DS through cross-sectional approaches.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Angela Thurman, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator
ajthurman@ucdavis.edu

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Description
This NeuroNEXT trial seeks to use an innovative exploratory design to change the paradigm for translation of targeted treatments in fragile X syndrome (FXS) and determine whether AFQ056 can improve language learning in 100 very young (3-6 years of age) children with FXS during participation in an intensive language learning intervention (LLI), as a surrogate for enhanced neural plasticity.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Multi-Principal Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Description
This study examines how gastrointestinal problems may relate to the microbiome, how these may be affected by environmental chemicals and diet, and how they may in turn influence the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Funding
National Institutes of Health

Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
sozonoff@ucdavis.edu

Evaluating assessment and medication treatment of ADHD in children with Down syndrome

Description
We propose a pilot study to define the clinical features of Down syndrome (DS) and attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) thereby enabling more accurate diagnosis and a pilot clinical trial to inform sample size estimates for a larger clinical trial.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Description
The major goals of this project are to examine the efficacy of Project ImPACT, a parent-implemented early intervention for children with or at-risk for autism.

Funding
Institute of Education Sciences

Aubyn C. Stahmer, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
astahmer@ucdavis.edu

Sarah R. Rieth, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, San Diego State University

Exploring Multi-level System Factors Facilitating Educator Training and Implementation of Evidence-Based Practices (EBP)

Description
Examining the system and teacher level modifiable factors that affect implementation of training in evidence-based intervention for students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in schools.

Funding
Institute of Education Sciences

Aubyn C. Stahmer, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
astahmer@ucdavis.edu

Description
This study tests the hypothesis that a lack of cellular immune regulation is an early predictive risk factor for autism spectrum disorders (ASD). We will examine immune regulatory mechanisms in two prospective population-based cohorts, testing cord blood samples from children who are determined to have ASD versus those who are developing typically.

Funding
National Institutes of Health

Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
sozonoff@ucdavis.edu

Description
The UC Davis MIND Institute Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center (IDDRC) has an administrative core and five scientific cores that support the efforts of more than 80 already-funded projects. The IDDRC supports ground-breaking studies of the early behavioral indicators of autism spectrum disorder (ASD); the role of immune dysfunction in ASD risk; interactions between genetic susceptibilities and exposure to teratogens in risk for ASD and intellectual and developmental disability (IDD); structural and functional brain abnormalities underlying ASD, fragile X syndrome, and other IDD conditions.

The IDDRC provides resources to member scientists that are designed to encourage interdisciplinary collaboration and accelerate the pace of translational research thereby moving the field closer to treatments and strategies for prevention of intellectual and developmental disabilities. 

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Researchers

Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D.
Core Director
sozonoff@ucdavis.edu

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Christine Nordahl, Ph.D.
Administrative Core
cnordahl@ucdavis.edu

Description
This program is designed to provide postdoctoral training in the behavioral and biological aspects of clinical developmental neuroscience, with a focus on autism.

Funding
National Institute of Mental Health

David G. Amaral, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
dgamaral@ucdavis.edu

Marjorie Solomon, Ph.D.

Co-Director
marsolomon@ucdavis.edu

Description
The KidsFirst project is designed to recruit families affected by autism into a national registry in which they complete questionnaires regarding symptom profiles, for the purpose of characterizing autism spectrum disorders (ASD) subtypes. 

Funding
Hartwell Foundation

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Description
This is a longitudinal investigation of language development in adolescent and young adult males with fragile X syndrome. The aims are to (1) characterize the course of development in the major components of language (e.g., syntax, pragmatics) from adolescence and into young adulthood in fragile X syndrome; (2) identify the psychological, environmental, and biological factors that lead to more or less favorable trajectories of language in individuals with fragile X syndrome; (3) examine the impact of language impairments on adaptive functioning in young adulthood of individuals with fragile X syndrome; and (4) identify patterns of language development specific to fragile X syndrome.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Description
The proposed project extends previously funded, Language Development in fragile X syndrome (FXS). We will continue the longitudinal investigation of males with FXS into adulthood and begin tracking the trajectories of females with FXS, who have been understudied, especially in the adult years.

The aims are to (1) describe the development of language, literacy, and the capacity for independent functioning in FXS during the transition into adulthood; (2) evaluate for the first time the bidirectional relationships between the capacity for independent functioning and language and literacy; (3) identify the determinants of within-syndrome variation in language literacy; and (4) identify sex differences in language, literacy, and the capacity for independent functioning.

Funding
National Institutes Health

Angela Thurman, Ph.D.

Co-Investigator
ajthurman@ucdavis.edu

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Description
The goal of the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and Related Disorders (LEND) project is to develop a graduate level training program to expand interdisciplinary leadership training in Northern California and to increase the number of leaders in autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD).

Funding
Human Resources & Services Administration (HRSA)

Aubyn C. Stahmer, Ph.D.
Co-Principal Investigator
astahmer@ucdavis.edu

Sally J. Rogers, Ph.D.
Co-Principal Investigator

Longitudinal investigation of social-communication and attention processes in school-aged children at genetic risk for autism

Description
This study follows a cohort of 300 children, first enrolled in infancy, to examine school-age outcomes and look for infant predictors of later functioning and autism.

Funding
National Institutes of Health

Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
sozonoff@ucdavis.edu

Description
Because a number of proposed pharmacological agents target the function of the hippocampus, memory will likely be designated as a “primary” outcome in a number of upcoming trials. This makes memory test validation a critical next step in supporting pharmacological approaches to cognitive interventions in intellectual disability (ID). In this revision, we plan to further develop and validate a theoretically-informed, comprehensive android touch-screen memory assessment system for use in young children with ID by considering the effects of sleep on the proposed memory outcome measures in individuals with Down syndrome, fragile X syndrome, and in two samples of typically developing children matched on either mental-age or chronological-age.

Funding
National Institutes Health

Angela Thurman, Ph.D.

Co-Investigator
ajthurman@ucdavis.edu

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Description
We plan to further develop and validate a theoretically-informed, comprehensive Android touch-screen memory assessment system for use in young children with intellectual disability (ID). We will evaluate floor and ceiling effects, internal consistency, validity, and sensitivity to developmental change and ID group effects.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Child Health and Human Development

Leonard Abbeduto, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
ljabbeduto@ucdavis.edu

Neural and cognitive development and internalizing problems in adolescence with autism spectrum disorder

Description
This grant attempts to characterize and predict aspects of cognitive development in adolescence, to examine changes in social awareness, motivation, and functioning; and to use this information to investigate the emergence of depression between middle childhood and adolescence using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI).

Funding
National Institutes of Health

David G. Amaral, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
dgamaral@ucdavis.edu

Marjorie Solomon, Ph.D.

Co-Director
marsolomon@ucdavis.edu

Description
This study examines the development of cognitive control across adolescence into young adulthood and its relationship to functional outcomes in individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD) using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and behavioral measures.

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Mental Health

Marjorie Solomon, Ph.D., M.B.A.

Principal Investigator
marsolomon@ucdavis.edu

Tara Ann Niendam, Ph.D.

Co-Investigator
tniendam@ucdavis.edu

Description
The objective of this application is to recruit and characterize a cohort of patients with Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD) for genetics studies.

Funding
Simons Foundation

Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
sozonoff@ucdavis.edu

Description
The goal of the proposed research is to determine whether identified neural phenotypes persist into middle childhood and are associated with the quality and severity of core and co-morbid behavioral impairments related to autism spectrum disorder (ASD).

Funding
National Institutes of Health

David G. Amaral, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator
dgamaral@ucdavis.edu

Novel video-based approaches for detection of autism risk in the first year of life

Description
This project uses new technologies to detect autism spectrum disorder (ASD) risk in infancy, testing psychometric properties of a video-based screening instrument and developing machine-learning models for automated detection.

Funding
National Institutes of Health

Sally Ozonoff, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
sozonoff@ucdavis.edu

Description
The independent phase of this career transition award seeks to understand early similarities and differences among infants at risk for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and autism spectrum disorders (ASD).

Funding
National Institutes of Health / National Institute of Mental Health

Meghan R. Miller, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator
mrhmiller@ucdavis.edu

Description
The major goal of this project is to evaluate trajectories of cognitive development from early to middle childhood and to determine whether there are any early brain predictors of middle childhood outcome.

Funding
National Institute of Mental Health

Christine Nordahl, Ph.D.

Co-Investigator
cnordahl@ucdavis.edu

Marjorie Solomon, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator
marsolomon@ucdavis.edu