The Molecular Basis of Autism

This book is a comprehensive overview of the clinical and scientific aspects of Autism from the leading experts in the field. The clinical section covers everything from epidemiological features to epigenetic regulation to behavioral therapies and much in between. The basic science section presents the latest knowledge on the underlying causes of the disorder including the role of various neurotransmitters, neurexins and neuroligins, reelin, and other proteins. Chapters also explore the cognition and motor control in autism and the connection between oxidative stress and mitochondrial dysfunction and autism. The thorough description of these underlying causes may help researchers and clinicians find more effective treatments and therapies for the 1 in 68 American children who have been diagnosed with Autism.

S. Hossein Fatemi received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in human anatomy at University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska. Dr. Fatemi subsequently earned his M.D. from Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. Since 1996, Dr. Fatemi has been a faculty member at the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine where he is currently a Professor of Psychiatry and Neuroscience and the Associate Chair for Neuroscience and Translational Research. He has studied the basis of neurodevelopmental disorders, primarily autism and schizophrenia for over eighteen years. He has also developed a mouse model of prenatal viral infection in studies of brain development, elucidated the role of the Reelin and GABAergic signaling systems in autism, schizophrenia and mood disorders, and investigated safe and effective means of treating nicotine addiction in subjects with schizophrenia. Dr. Fatemi is a Distinguished Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association, a Fellow of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology and Collegium Internationale Neuropsychopharmacologicum, and serves as a member of several editorial boards.