Yale School of Medicine (YSM) was awarded a grant of nearly $25 million by the Aligning Research to Impact Autism (ARIA) initiative to build foundational maps of the developing human brain and clarify how autism diverges from typical development.
Nancy J. Brown, MD, the Jean and David W. Wallace Dean of Yale School of Medicine, said, "We are very grateful to ARIA for their investment in Yale. Their philanthropy is advancing a new era of autism research, which we hope will lead to an understanding of its earliest beginning in the developing brain. The impact of their grant will extend well beyond Yale School of Medicine, creating knowledge that can guide earlier detection, clearer biomarkers, and more precise interventions for individuals with autism and their families."
The grant is co-led by Nenad Sestan, MD, PhD, Harvey and Kate Cushing Professor of Neuroscience at YSM, and Paola Arlotta, PhD, the Golub Family Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University, and is designed to build foundational models needed to detect, interpret, and address developmental differences.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, 1 in 31 children in the United States has autism, while the World Health Organization estimates approximately 1 in 100 children worldwide are affected. Researchers currently lack a high-resolution, time-lapse map of the developing human brain, in part because brain maturation unfolds over nearly two decades and research access to developing human tissue is limited.
Sestan said, "My colleagues and I are profoundly grateful for ARIA's visionary support. This award enables us to advance our research into the development of the human brain's neural circuits. By bringing together experts across disciplines and institutions, we aim to better understand how brain development unfolds and how autism emerges."
ARIA's investment supports two Yale-led projects: a high-resolution map of the developing brain's wiring, and a cellular and molecular model of where autism diverges from typical development. These are part of a broader four-project collaboration with Harvard University that also includes patient-derived brain organoids and generative artificial intelligence (AI) to predict interventions and prioritize therapeutic targets.
