Understanding the Brain in Autism

We are asking for your support in getting our project off the ground, getting the word out to the community, and answering some important questions about a disorder affecting people you know. We believe crowdsourcing can be a useful tool to support autism research.

More detailed information and FAQ are addressed below:

1) What are we proposing?

2) Why are we crowdsourcing this project?

3) What about tax deductions on donations? 

4) I want to help but I don't have money to donate.

What are we proposing?

Have you already watched the video but want more detailed information on the project?

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is one of the most common developmental disorders in the United States affecting approximately 1 in 68 children. Only 6-15% of ASD cases have an identifiable gene that seems to cause it, and these gene associations vary widely making biological diagnosis extremely difficult. 

Neuroimaging (examination of the brain of living individuals) and postmortem (examination of the brain after death) studies have significantly advanced our understanding of the underlying differences in the brain related to ASD; however the causes are still poorly understood. Much attention in neuroimaging studies has been paid to brain network structure and function in individuals with ASD; however, studies focusing on the cerebellum (a brain structure traditionally thought to only be involved in motor control and more basic functions but more recently found to be involved in cognitive processing) are lacking. 

Postmortem studies have suggested neurotransmitters levels (chemicals in the brain that allow communication between neurons) in the cerebellum are affected in ASD, and neurotransmitter balance in the brain is important for cognitive functioning. The cerebellum is of particular interest because it is involved with cognitive domains affected in ASD, such as language, and evidence suggests some forms of autism may be due to altered cerebellar signaling capabilities. This is of importance because therapies are currently being developed for ASD targeting neurotransmitters. 

Neuroimaging of the cerebellum may be able to assist in optimal targeting of treatment for ASD and provide a better understanding of the underlying causes.

Primary Aim: We propose to assess cerebellar structural and functional connectivity with brain regions known to be involved in ASD. We hope to determine the relationship of neurotransmitter levels within the cerebellum on structural and functional connectivity of the brain and the effect of these on behavioral outcomes, specifically social-communication impairments and stereotyped behaviors. 

Why are we crowdsourcing this project?

A major issue affecting my project is that funding for research is limited and very competitive. Most federal funding is awarded to large-scale projects with approximately 35% going to just 15 institutions. It is difficult to obtain funding for small-scale preliminary studies, such as ours, and even more difficult given that we are outside these institutions. We fall in a middle ground in which we do not yet have the data to fully support a competitive National Institutes of Health grant for this project but cannot afford the project costs without support. Our solution is to turn to the community and ask for help.

Crowdsourcing has been very successful in the last few years and has nearly doubled overall contributions each year. Online crowdsourcing platforms have raised billions of dollars to support social causes, entrepreneurship, and the arts. Someone even raised over $40,000 for potato salad. 

We believe crowdsourcing can be a useful tool to support important research as well. Crowdsourcing could provide a much-needed influx of funding for small-scale projects, which following preliminary data collection would then be able to compete for larger federal grants.

We are asking for your support in getting our project off the ground, getting the word out to the community, and answering some important questions about a disorder affecting people you know. 

What about tax deductions?

Unfortunately we cannot guarantee tax deduction status for donations made via our fundly site. If you want to ensure that your donation is tax deductible please visit our direct give page at the University of Missouri and your donation will be tax deductible in accordance with your state and federal income tax provisions.

 https://donatetomu.missouri.edu/givedirect/GDItem.aspx?item_id=144

4) I want to help but I don't have money to donate.

We appreciate your interest and you can support us by helping us spread the word. Tell your friends and family or post our link on your facebook or twitter. Every little bit helps!