Congressman Chris Smith (R-Hamilton), the Co-Founder and Co-Chairman of the Congressional Coalition for Autism Research and Education (CARE) announced today that a leading autism researcher at Rutgers University has earned a $3.7 million federal grant to further investigate the genetics associated with the communications disorder.

    Dr. Linda Brzustowicz will lead the five-year research project that will investigate what genetic factors may cause autism.  It is estimated that about 1.5 million Americans suffer from autism or an autism spectrum disorder (ASD), conditions that severely impair one’s ability to interact with society.

    Smith supported Dr. Brzustowicz’s grant application and urged the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to fund her project.

    “This significant federal grant will enable Dr. Brzustowicz and her team to expand research into autism as we seek to determine what, if any, genetic makeup either causes or contributes to the onset of autism,” Smith said.

    Dr. Brzustowicz said, “Our strategy is to examine the hereditary patterns of the individual characteristics that make up the spectrum of behaviors that constitute this disorder.  In doing so, we hope to be able to more easily find the genes that are linked to specific components, one at a time.” 

    The team will select 150 families from throughout New Jersey for the study, and is especially interested in studying families in which one member is autistic and others exhibit traits associated with the disorder but are not classified as having autism.

    “This initiative will complement several ongoing projects that have helped make New Jersey a leader in autism research.  I look forward to continuing to do everything I can to secure additional federal aid to support this most important work,” Smith added.

    As Co-Chairman of CARE, Smith and Rep. Mike Doyle of Pennsylvania have led efforts to bolster federal research dollars for autism at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

    In addition to fighting for increased research dollars, Smith and Doyle have introduced legislation, the Teacher Education for Autistic Children (TEACH) Act, which authorizes federal initiatives to help schools develop curricula for students with autism as well as initiatives to train teachers so they can work with students with autism.

    And it was Title I of the Children’s Health Act (PL 106-31), authored by Smith, that established the nationwide autism surveillance project which is currently operating in about a dozen states, including New Jersey.  The data collected will be analyzed and enable researchers to search for commonalities in autism cases.