SPARK: A US Cohort of 50,000 Families to Accelerate Autism Research

The SPARK Consortium, Sunday Francis

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

259 Scopus citations

Abstract

The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) has launched SPARKForAutism.org, a dynamic platform that is engaging thousands of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and connecting them to researchers. By making all data accessible, SPARK seeks to increase our understanding of ASD and accelerate new supports and treatments for ASD. The Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative (SFARI) has launched SPARKForAutism.org, a dynamic platform that is engaging thousands of individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and connecting them to researchers. By making all data accessible, SPARK seeks to increase our understanding of ASD and accelerate new supports and treatments for ASD.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)488-493
Number of pages6
JournalNeuron
Volume97
Issue number3
DOIs
StatePublished - Feb 7 2018

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Mustafa Sahin has received research funding from Roche, Novartis, Pfizer, Navitor, Rugen, Ibsen, Neuren, and LAM Therapeutics and has served on the Scientific Advisory Board of Sage Therapeutics. Richard A. Gibbs, Donna Muzny, and Aniko Sabo are employees of Baylor College of Medicine, which has part ownership of Baylor Genetics Laboratories and Codified Genomics, each of which derive income from genetic testing. Catherine Lord receives royalties from Western Psychological Services, publisher of the Social Communication Questionnaire. Anthony D. Krentz is an employee of PreventionGenetics and a member of PrevGen Employees, LLC, which owns units in PreventionGenetics. Angela J. Gruber is an employee of PreventionGenetics.

Funding Information:
We are extremely grateful to the thousands of individuals and families who are participating in this study. We are grateful to the many autism advocacy and service organizations that have helped us inform the community about SPARK, including the Autism Society of America and its affiliates, Autism Speaks, Autism Science Foundation, Easter Seals, Arkansas Autism Resource and Outreach Center, Global and Regional Asperger’s Syndrome Partnership, Kentucky Autism Training Center, and Autistic Self Advocacy Network. We thank the members of SPARK’s Community Advisory Council for providing feedback and advice. We thank members of our Scientific and Community Advisory Board and SFARI scientists for advice on our protocol and participant outreach and retention strategies. We thank PreventionGenetics for managing and processing biospecimens, DNA Genotek for handling saliva kit logistics, and Baylor College of Medicine Human Genome Sequencing Center for exome sequencing. The SPARK initiative is funded by the Simons Foundation as part of SFARI.

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