The Drexel University School of Public Health received a $1.1M grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support the Early Autism Risk Longitudinal Investigation (EARLI) network. The study was established with a more than $14M Autism Centers of Excellence grant from the NIH, as well as $2.5M from Autism Speaks. The EARLI Study is one of eleven National Institutes of Health Autism Centers of Excellence projects nationwide.
The EARLI network will follow a cohort of up to 1,200 pregnant women who already have a child with autism. The EARLI study is considered one of the best-equipped to discover biological markers and environmental risk factors for autism due to its elevated autism risk pregnancy cohort, wide ranging data collection with extensive bio-sampling, length of time it follows pregnant women and their babies, and multi-disciplinary team of expert investigators.
The recent federal grant was received from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, and was issued under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Dr. Craig J. Newschaffer, a renowned autism expert and department chair at the Drexel University School of Public Health, leads the EARLI network and serve as the principal investigator of the NIH grant to Drexel University.
Under the study, researchers at four network field sites in three regions across the nation are studying possible environmental risk factors and their interplay with genetic susceptibility during the prenatal, neonatal and early postnatal periods. The project is also investigating early biological indicators of autism.
The Drexel University School of Public Health in Philadelphia is the national coordinator of the EARLI network. The local research sites for the study include: Drexel University School of Public Health/Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP); University of California at Davis/MIND Institute; Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Kennedy Krieger Institute; and the Kaiser Permanente Division of Research in Oakland, CA.
“No other study can more comprehensively explore the impacts and interplay of environmental factors and genetic predisposition in the cause of autism,” said Dr. Craig Newschaffer, a department chair at the Drexel University School of Public Health and EARLI Study principal investigator. “Our approach is based on assessing potential autism risk factors through all-inclusive data collection that begins when a mother of a child with autism learns she is pregnant and continues through the early life of the new baby.”
The researchers aim to follow about 1,200 mothers of children with autism as soon as they become pregnant and document the development of the newborn through 36 months of age.
According to EARLI researchers in the study, the study’s cohort of elevated autism risk pregnancies will help to greatly advance the understanding of possible autism environmental risk factors and biomarkers during different developmental windows, as well as the interplay of genetic susceptibility and environmental exposure. “The cohort will be one of the largest of its kind in the nation. By studying families who are already affected by autism, we feel we have the best chance at learning how genetics and environmental factors could work together to cause autism,” said Newschaffer.
The network also includes a data coordinating center at the University of California at Davis and a central lab and secure bio-sample repository at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Participants in the study will be followed for a period of up to four years, including the time during pregnancy and up until the newborn baby is three years old. The baby born during the study period will have a number of developmental assessments beginning at six months until three years of age. The older sibling with autism may also have additional assessments to confirm their diagnosis.
Preliminary analyses are slated to begin as soon as the third year of enrollment. Analyses of the influence of genetic factors on developmental trajectory in high risk siblings are anticipated to begin after four years of EARLI Study enrollment. Other major analyses, including those involving interaction of genes and environment, will follow as more families complete the study protocol.
For more information on the EARLI network visit http://www.earlistudy.org.