Café Scientifique focuses on autism research on June 4
Recently published research on autism genetics has implicated a range of genetic causes, but genetic differences explain only a minority of cases. At Stanford, Ricardo Dolmetsch is taking a different approach to autism research, focusing on uncovering the biologic differences in the neurons of autistic patients. To achieve these research goals, Ricardo is pushing the limits of technology by converting skin cells from children with autism, turning them into pluripotent progenitor cells, which in turn are teased into brain cells. This technological approach of growing a “brain in a dish” holds the potential to uncover possible treatment pathways for autism and a range of other neurodevelopmental disorders.
At Café Scientifique on June 4 from 6:00 to 7:30 pm, Ricardo will discuss his approach to understanding the molecular basis of autism and its causes. He will review the state of the art in autism research and his development for new tools to study and repair the developing brain. He will also discuss his findings and potential ramifications for the treatment of autism and other related disorders.
Ricardo received his PhD in neuroscience from Stanford University. He has received multiple honors and awards for his research, including the NIH Pioneer Award, Society for Neuroscience Young Investigator Award.
Café Scientifique events, which held are at SRI in Menlo Park, are open to all free of charge.
Lesley June 04, 2012 at 2:55 am
There are alternative and seemingly postitive research lines going on in trials being undertaken by doctors in the USA, Germany and Italy, in the use of GcMAF to treat the symptoms of autism. Dr Bradstreet in the USA discovered the effectiveness in 2011, after tests showed that most autistic children have elevated nagalese levels, and research by all the doctors puts the success rate at about 80%.
The most common reported improvements concern cognitive abilities, attention and focus, learning and understanding, receptiveness and awareness of the environment; in addition receptive language (understanding new and complex sentences) and expressive language (ability to pronounce the first words, or improvements in speech fluency) and social skills improved. They also reported improvements in behavior: less hyperactive and more cooperative. Parental anecdotes express joy and amazement at the improvements in their children.
Maybe you might like to look at why this substance works so well in the majority of autistic children, as it simply replaces a deficiency in the immune system. This then indicates that the underlying problem is one of virus or pathogens, and when the immune system is bolstered, the symptoms decrease. The exact scientific pathways to these improvements are not fully understood as yet, but that does not detract from the fact that using GcMAF to reduce the nagalese levels has the knock on effect of easing the symptoms of autism.