The newly funded Autism Research Consortium seeks to accelerate timely access to care for autistic individuals

Researchers at the Waisman Center’s University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) were recently awarded a grant from the Health Resources & Services Administration (HRSA) to support research to improve the health and well-being of children and youth with autism.

New research reinforces the link between a cellular quality control system and rare forms of autism

Just like a car factory relies on inspectors to ensure that every vehicle is built correctly, cells depend on internal quality control systems to keep proteins functioning as they should. New research from Waisman Center investigator Luigi Puglielli, MD, PhD, professor of medicine at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, reveals that disruptions in one such system—the endoplasmic reticulum’s acetylation pathway—can lead to rare forms of autism and progeria, offering fresh insights into the cellular roots of these complex conditions.

CDC reports rising autism rates with Wisconsin notably higher than the national average

The prevalence of autism spectrum disorder among 8-year-old children in the U.S. has increased to 1 in 31 in 2022, up from 1 in 36 in 2020, according to a recently published report by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring (ADDM) Network.

New insights into language development: The role of joint attention in kids with Down syndrome and autism

Attention is a key component of learning. Think of how hard it is to learn someone’s name if all you can think about is the eyelash on their cheek. The same can be said for language learning.