Friday, 2 November 2007
9:00 - 10:00 AM

The Seminar will be held in the Gonda Center First Floor Conference Room, Rm 1357
E5 on the South sector of the UCLA Campus Map.

All are welcome!

For further information contact Candace Wilkinson at (310) 825-9041.

LECTURE SUMMARY:

This talk should be subtitled, ÒBringing Coals to Newcastle.Ó In each of the three areas, autism researchers throughout the UCLA campus have provided the background for decades for the studies to be presented. Studies of serotonin in platelets and response to serotonin transporter inhibitors will be reviewed as a background for why our laboratory shifted to molecular genetic studies of the serotonin transporter and other serotonin-related genes. After moving to collaborative genome-wide linkage and now genome-wide association studies in collaboration with UCLA/AGRE, the most recent step is to try to connect some of the loose ends in understanding the interrelationship of biochemistry, pharmacology and genetics of the serotonin system in autism. Finally, an attempt will be made to place serotonin-related findings in autism into the broader context of autism genetics and neurochemistry, with an emphasis on a framework for development of new pharmacological agents in the treatment of autism.

RELEVANT PUBLICATIONS:

Owley, T., Walton, L., Salt, J.,Guter, S.J., Winnega, M., Leventhal, B.L., Cook, E.H.: An open label trial of escitalopram in pervasive developmental disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2005,44:343-348.

Autism Genome Project Consortium: Mapping autism risk loci using genetic linkage and chromosomal rearrangements. Nature Genetics 2007,39:319-328.

Martin, C.L., Duvall, J.A., Ilkin, Y., Simon, J., Arreaza, M., Wilkes, K., Alvarez-Retuerto, A., Whichello, A., Powell, C., Rao, K., Cook, E., Geschwind, D.H.: Cytogenetic and molecular characterization of A2BP1/ FOX1 as a candidate gene for autism. American Journal of Medical Genetics (Neuropsychiatric Genetics) 2007,144B:869-876.

Cross, S., Kim, S-J., Weiss, L.A., Delahanty, R.J., Sutcliffe, J.S., Leventhal, B.L., Cook, E.H., Veenstra-Vanderweele, J.: Molecular genetics of the platelet serotonin system in first-degree relatives of patients with autistic disorder. Neuropsychopharmacology published online in advance of print.

Hanna, G.L., Veenstra-VanderWeele, J., Cox, N.J., Van Etten-Lee, M., Fischer, D.J., Himle, J.A., Bivens, N.C., Wu, X., Roe, C.A., Hennessey, K.A., Dickel, D.E., Leventhal B.L., Cook, E.H.: Evidence for a genetic locus on chromosome 10p15 in early-onset obsessive-compulsive disorder. Biological Psychiatry published online in advance of print.