Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) affect an increasing number of people, particularly children, throughout the world. Currently, 1 in 36 children in the United States are being diagnosed with autism. Despite these very large numbers, there is no specific therapeutic treatment, and there is little knowledge of the exact biological causes of this disorder.

Recent evidence has suggested that dysregulation of the gut-brain axis, the bi-directional communication between the gut and the brain, may be partly responsible for some of the symptoms of ASD.  Our lab is undertaking research to understand how dysregulation of the gut-brain axis may affect the brain and directly affect social behaviors, repetitive behaviors, and anxiety in autism.

These studies are done using both biological samples from individuals diagnosed with autism and transgenic mouse models. Molecular, Biological, and behavioral techniques are used to further understand how the gut-brain axis is involved in ASD, and if therapeutic treatments targeting the gut may be beneficial in ASD.

Recent relevant publications:

Julie Carmel, Nasreen Ghanayem, Rasha Mayouf, Natalia Saleev, Ipsita Chaterjee, Dmitriy Getselter, Evgeny Tiknonov, Sondra Turjeman, Mounia Shaalan, Saleh Khatib, Alla Kuzminsky, Neta Kavtani-Friedman, Tanya Kronos, Tali Bretler, Omry Koren, Evan Elliott. Bacteroides is increased in an autism cohort and induces autism-like behavior in mice. November 2023 NPJ Biofilms and Microbiomes

Chaterjee I, Ghaneem N, Getselter D, Bel S, Elliott E. CHD8 regulates gut epithelial cell function and affects autism-related behaviours through the gut-brain axis. September 2023. Translational Psychiatry

Morton JT, Jin DM, Mills RH, Shao Y, Rahman G, McDonald D, Zhu Q, Balaban M, Jiang Y, Cantrell K, Gonzalez A, Carmel J, Frankiensztajn LM, Martin-Brevet S, Berding K, Needham BD, Zurita MF, David M, Averina OV, Kovtun AS, Noto A, Mussap M, Wang M, Frank DN, Li E, Zhou W, Fanos V, Danilenko VN, Wall DP, Cárdenas P, Baldeón ME, Jacquemont S, Koren O, Elliott E, Xavier RJ, Mazmanian SK, Knight R, Gilbert JA, Donovan SM, Lawley TD, Carpenter B, Bonneau R, Taroncher-Oldenburg G. Multi-level analysis of the gut-brain axis shows autism spectrum disorder-associated molecular and microbial profiles. Nature Neuroscience. 2023 Jul;26(7):1208-1217.

Tabouy L, Getselter D, Weber N, Ziv O, Koren O, Elliott E.  Dysregulation of microbiome and effects of probiotic treatment in genetic autism mouse model.  Brain Behavior and Immunology. S0889-1591(18)30188-0