CSHL Brain Health Initiative: Focus on Autism and Related Developmental Disorders

The NLM Family Foundation, in partnership with other autism-focused organizations, supports educational programs at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) related to autism spectrum disorders. As part of the Brain Health Initiative at CSHL, CSHL has developed postgraduate courses designed to promote greater understanding of the neurobiological and genetic mechanisms affecting brain health. To enhance and extend research efforts on autism and related developmental disorders, the Initiative’s Focus on Autism and Related Developmental Disorders has developed two postgraduate lecture courses led by a distinguished faculty of top researchers from around the world. One course, Workshop on Autism Spectrum Disorders takes an integrative approach to present the clinical, genetic, neurobiological and cognitive elements of autism spectrum disorders to senior postdoctoral fellows, assistant professors and neuroscience faculty interested in initiating research in these topics. The second course, Biology of Social Cognition, addresses how cognitive processes involving social behavior are developed and how they are altered or dysregulated in autism spectrum disorders and other developmental disorders.