In recent years researchers have gained an increased understanding of the relationship between motor skills and the development of language, particularly in autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Given the core deficit in verbal communication in children and adults on the spectrum, the improved understa...
Search Results: Autism
Understanding Eye-contact Avoidance in People With Autism
Individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) often have difficulty looking others in the eyes. This is typically interpreted as a sign of social and personal indifference, but self-reports from people with autism suggests otherwise. Many say that looking others in the eye is uncomfortable or s...
Review: The Role of Histone Deacetylases in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Nicole Zurcher Wimmer, Jacob Hooker and colleagues recently reviewed research on relationships between autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and histone deacetylases (HDACs).
Functional Connectivity on MEG May Be a Biomarker of Autism Spectrum Disorder
The Center’s Jacob Hooker Joins the Lurie Center for Autism as Scientific Director
MEG Detects Abnormal Cerebral-Cerebellar Functional Connectivity During Processing of Spoken Sentences in Autism Spectrum Disorder
Nicole Zurcher Wimmer
Nicole Zürcher, PhD, is Assistant Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital, a faculty member at the A. A. Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging and the Director of Human Imaging in the Chemical Neuroscience Program. She is Faculty at the MGH Lurie Cente...
Xue-Jun (June) Kong
Xue-Jun (June) Kong, M.D. Principal Investigator and Director of Synapse Autism program at Martinos Center/Mass General Hospital, Principal Investigator and Attending Physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Assistant Professor of Harvard Medical School. She leads her Autism research te...
Nouchine Hadjikhani
Nouchine Hadjikhani, MD, PhD, is an Associate Professor of Radiology at Harvard Medical School, where she directs the Neurolimbic Research Laboratory. She is also an Assistant in Neurosciences at the Massachusetts General Hospital and a visiting professor at GNC, Gothenburg University, Sweden. Sh...
Jacob Hooker
Jacob Hooker, PhD, is currently Lurie Family Professor of Radiology in the Field of Autism Research and a Phyllis and Jerome Lyle Rappaport MGH Research Scholar. Dr. Hooker also serves as Scientific Director of the Lurie Center for Autism, as editor-in-chief for ACS Chemical Neuroscience and has...
Maria Mody
Maria Mody, PhD, is a cognitive neuroscientist specializing in neuroimaging of communication abilities in children and adults, with a focus on autism and dyslexia.The goal of her research is to identify core behaviors in developmental disorders of speech and language and the underlying neural mec...
Chieh-En (Jane) Tseng
I am an Instructor in Radiology with expertise in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and positron emission tomography (PET). My PhD focused on using structural, diffusion, and functional MRI to study cognitive functions and related neuroanatomy in very preterm born adults. I completed my postdoctor...
Sheraz Khan
Dr. Sheraz Khan is an Instructor (Research Faculty) at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). He has developed novel signal processing methods for understanding neural underpinnings of autism. His publications, including Khan ...
Early Screening of ASD With a New Eye-tracking Paradigm
Studies have shown that early diagnosis and intervention significantly impact the prognosis of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD): the earlier the detection and diagnosis, the better the prognosis and functional status later in life. Currently, the average age of diagnosis is approxi...
Publications Updates
May 11, 2020 The presubiculum links incipient amyloid and tau pathology to memory function in older persons Jacobs HIL, Augustinack JC, Schultz AP, Hanseeuw BJ, Locascio J, Amariglio RE, Papp KV, Rentz DM, Sperling RA, Johnson KA. Neurology. 2020 May 5;94(18):e1916-e1928. doi: 10.1212/WNL.00...
Magnetoencephalography Aids Diagnosis and Treatment of Epilepsy, Other Disorders
Originally used only for research purposes, magnetoencephalography (MEG) has been introduced into clinical care in recent decades. With applications in epilepsy already benefiting from its use, and still others on the horizon, the technique is helping to advance diagnosis and treatment for a rang...
Dara Manoach
Dr. Manoach is a clinically licensed neuropsychologist and an experimental psychologist by training. She has dedicated her career to understanding the neural basis and nature of fundamental cognitive deficits in neuropsychiatric disorders, particularly schizophrenia and autism. Although sleep pla...
Kestas Kveraga
Dr. Kveraga is a cognitive neuroscientist who studies the neural mechanisms of threat perception from naturalistic stimuli, with strong interests in visual pathway function and autism. He is also interested in neural aesthetics and how brain activity can be employed to predict and shape architect...
Another Leap Forward in Connectome Imaging of the Brain
Since the 1990s, the Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital has led the development and application of the powerful technique "Connectome" imaging, which reveals the organization of the human brain by tracking the movement of water molecules in the brain. In 2023...
The Secret Lives Of Martinos Folk: Radio, Nerds, and Where Punk and Science Meet
When you hear the words "MIT radio station" you might imagine a group of nervous, bow tie-clad engineers crowded around a chalkboard with a Venn diagram of Roger Dean album covers and Silmarillion references. And you might be forgiven if you did. Such stereotypes of science and engineering studen...