New Jersey Language and Autism Genetics Study: Dr. Linda Brzustowicz

The New Jersey Language and Autism Genetics Study (NJLAGS)

Rutgers University

Phone: (732) 445-1224

Fax: (732) 445-1636

The New Jersey Language and Autism Genetics Study, is a group of autism researchers committed to identifying genes that influence the development of autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Our professional team is comprised of geneticists, psychiatrists, developmental pediatricians, psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and research technicians; all dedicated to trying to unravel the many genetic complexities associated with ASDs.

We are supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health (NIMH)-“Behavioral and Genetic Biomarker Development for Autism and Related Disorders," Grant # RO1 MH70366 and RC1 MH088288 to Linda Brzustowicz, M.D.

Our Goal is to advance the development of behavioral and genetic biomarkers for autism and related disorders.

Our Specific Aims include combining the analysis of behavioral and genetic biomarkers to develop more accurate models for the prediction of risk for autism spectrum disorders. We are doing this by:

1) Developing a set of behavioral biomarkers of genetic risk of autism and related disorders with a concentrated interest in behavioral biomarkers for language,

2) Validating Behavioral Biomarkers using quantitative and dichotomous behavioral biomarker data and a quasi-Bayesian posterior probability method to elucidate the genetic architecture of risk, and

3) Identifying Genetic Biomarkers including specific DNA variations associated with genetic risk for autism and testing both common and rare variants (SNPs and CNVs), from candidate genes within the regions identified in Aim 2 and evaluating additional variants from the research literature as potential factors modulating a network of risk-determining genes.