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The state's new genetics research group will try to find a cause and a cure for autism, a disorder that affects 1 in 250 children nationally, including 5,600 in the Valley.

Today, officials will announce an alliance between the Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center in Phoenix and the Translational Genomics Research Institute, or TGen.

"We've always thought that the answers (about autism) would come only after studying the interaction between the environmental and genetic milieu that children are exposed to," said Raun Melmed, Southwest Autism's medical director.

The alliance, he added, "just seemed like a marriage that had to happen."

Dietrich Stephan, who joined TGen on Tuesday as its director of neurogenomics, said he was eager to "make a difference in the lives of autistic kids."

Autism is a mysterious disorder characterized by language problems, repetitive behaviors and trouble socializing.



The collaboration is the first for TGen, a public-private group with ties to the state's universities and funded by taxpayers, corporations and private donations.

"There will be more," TGen spokeswoman Francie Noyes said. "This is the model we hope to use with local and national researchers."

Headed by Jeffrey Trent, a genetics researcher formerly with the National Institutes of Health, TGen is researching the inherited aspects of breast cancer, melanoma, prostate cancer, diabetes and other chronic diseases.

The alliance with the autism center in Phoenix will give TGen researchers access to patients, their families and doctors for genetic testing and possibly treatment and interventions.Melmed said the center has "lots of parents who are eager to participate."

This is not the first effort to understand the genetics of autism. Several research groups have been trying to decipher it for years, believing that five to 20 genes may be involved.

TGen's Stephan said high-powered computers that can wade through millions of genetic codes should speed discovery.

But he said it would be unfair to families to provide a timetable for finding a cure.

"All I know is that we have a team in place that can do it faster than anyone else in the world," he said. "We're hoping to make Phoenix a national hub for autism research."