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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."