Post by momofautistic on Feb 26, 2005 0:17:32 GMT -5
The Autism Genetic Resource Exchange
2003 Project Cost: $1,500,000
AGRE Steering Committee Chair:
Maja Bucan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Genetics
Department of Genetics
Center for Neurobiology and Behavior
Department of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania
Does your family have more than one child affected by autism, PDD, or Asperger's Syndrome?click the following link to contact the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange, now! www.familyagre.org/
In 2003 the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) will make the DNA samples of over 400 multiplex families available for study to all scientists and pharmaceutical companies -- thus making it the largest collection of genetic material for autism research in the world and the only one that is open to the entire scientific community.
At a Cure Autism Now think tank in May 1996 parents posed this question to scientists: What is the single most important thing the organization can do to speed progress in autism research? The answer: Establish a DNA resource that would make biological samples from well-characterized families with more than one child with autism, available to the scientific community at large.
Existing groups were recruiting at a painfully slow rate, and talented researchers with powerful labs were unable to enter the field of autism research because they had no access to family samples. It became clear that new technology was making it possible to do high throughput genotyping so quickly, that with a large enough sample set, important linkages results could be made quickly available.
In an effort to facilitate the progress of discover, Cure Autism Now founded and fully funds the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE). AGRE is an open gene bank with a large collection of immortalized cell lines and DNA samples from families with more than one child with autism. These samples and the accompanying clinical data are available to the entire scientific community.
AGRE's purpose is to foster collaboration among researchers, increase the available sample size, provide an international mechanism to allow rapid replication while avoiding overlap and thus accelerate autism research aimed at discovering the causes, treatments and a cure for autism spectrum disorders.
In record time AGRE has assembled the largest collection of genetic and phenotypic information on families who have more than one child with autism. Five years ago there were six universities working on the genetics of autism. At the time no one had more than 80 samples. They were moving at a glacial place and not cooperating with each other. In only four years AGRE has made the DNA of over 400 families available to the scientific community. Not only does Cure Autism Now make the DNA available to all scientists, but also we take the raw unanalyzed genotyped data and make it available immediately on the web. This is practically unheard of. Typically scientists want to analyze the data themselves and publish before the information is released to the field at large. Because the extraordinary scientists who work with Cure Autism Now share our sense of urgency, they have agreed to make this information available years before anyone else would.
There is still work to be done before the genes responsible for autism are identified, but the search is closing in. There are extremely promising hot spots on at least four different chromosomes. In 2002 there were 14 peer-reviewed papers published on autism genetics - a large portion of this work relied on either financial support from Cure Autism Now or the use of the AGRE DNA samples or data. The AGRE samples are being used in France, Canada, Japan, Italy and the United States.
Cure Autism Now has recently received commitment from the National Institute of Mental Health for a $3.2 million grant to build and continue to refine the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange.
Just a few years ago, AGRE was a revolutionary concept. Now it is a critical resource - one that we believe will accelerate the discovery of the genes involved in autism by at least a decade and will serve as a model in the effort to combat other genetic disorders in the near future
2003 Project Cost: $1,500,000
AGRE Steering Committee Chair:
Maja Bucan, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Genetics
Department of Genetics
Center for Neurobiology and Behavior
Department of Psychiatry
University of Pennsylvania
Does your family have more than one child affected by autism, PDD, or Asperger's Syndrome?click the following link to contact the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange, now! www.familyagre.org/
In 2003 the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) will make the DNA samples of over 400 multiplex families available for study to all scientists and pharmaceutical companies -- thus making it the largest collection of genetic material for autism research in the world and the only one that is open to the entire scientific community.
At a Cure Autism Now think tank in May 1996 parents posed this question to scientists: What is the single most important thing the organization can do to speed progress in autism research? The answer: Establish a DNA resource that would make biological samples from well-characterized families with more than one child with autism, available to the scientific community at large.
Existing groups were recruiting at a painfully slow rate, and talented researchers with powerful labs were unable to enter the field of autism research because they had no access to family samples. It became clear that new technology was making it possible to do high throughput genotyping so quickly, that with a large enough sample set, important linkages results could be made quickly available.
In an effort to facilitate the progress of discover, Cure Autism Now founded and fully funds the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE). AGRE is an open gene bank with a large collection of immortalized cell lines and DNA samples from families with more than one child with autism. These samples and the accompanying clinical data are available to the entire scientific community.
AGRE's purpose is to foster collaboration among researchers, increase the available sample size, provide an international mechanism to allow rapid replication while avoiding overlap and thus accelerate autism research aimed at discovering the causes, treatments and a cure for autism spectrum disorders.
In record time AGRE has assembled the largest collection of genetic and phenotypic information on families who have more than one child with autism. Five years ago there were six universities working on the genetics of autism. At the time no one had more than 80 samples. They were moving at a glacial place and not cooperating with each other. In only four years AGRE has made the DNA of over 400 families available to the scientific community. Not only does Cure Autism Now make the DNA available to all scientists, but also we take the raw unanalyzed genotyped data and make it available immediately on the web. This is practically unheard of. Typically scientists want to analyze the data themselves and publish before the information is released to the field at large. Because the extraordinary scientists who work with Cure Autism Now share our sense of urgency, they have agreed to make this information available years before anyone else would.
There is still work to be done before the genes responsible for autism are identified, but the search is closing in. There are extremely promising hot spots on at least four different chromosomes. In 2002 there were 14 peer-reviewed papers published on autism genetics - a large portion of this work relied on either financial support from Cure Autism Now or the use of the AGRE DNA samples or data. The AGRE samples are being used in France, Canada, Japan, Italy and the United States.
Cure Autism Now has recently received commitment from the National Institute of Mental Health for a $3.2 million grant to build and continue to refine the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange.
Just a few years ago, AGRE was a revolutionary concept. Now it is a critical resource - one that we believe will accelerate the discovery of the genes involved in autism by at least a decade and will serve as a model in the effort to combat other genetic disorders in the near future
