"This grant allows us to utilize the most recent diagnostic methods available for participants in the study," Samms-Vaughan said. "There is a lot of information on autism in developed countries, but more limited information from developing countries. Researching similarities and differences across nations will better inform us of the causes. If we can unearth the causes, we will be well on our way to preventing the disabling condition that autism is."

Eric Boerwinkle, Ph.D., professor and director of the Division of Epidemiology at the UT School of Public Health, will lead the project's study of variations in the glutathione-S-transferase genes in relation to autism, as well as their possible interaction with genes involved in contaminant metabolism and metals involved in developmental toxicity. Those metals include mercury, lead, arsenic and cadmium. The study team will collaborate with geneticist Wayne McLaughlin, Ph.D., from UWI's Caribbean Genetics Lab and Gerald Lalor, Ph.D., from UWI's International Centre for Environment and Nuclear Science. The genetic research is funded in part with an additional grant to Boerwinkle from the National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The grant examines genomic sequence information for predicting health and disease beyond traditional risk factors.

The pilot study will set the ground work for large, population-based studies of ASD in Jamaica and help build the infrastructure there for the two universities to train researchers and conduct joint research, said Rahbar, who is director of the Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Research Design Core of the Center for Clinical and Translational Sciences at the UT Health Science Center at Houston.

Source: University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston