Research and Clinical Trials

SPARK is an autism research study and a growing community of autistic individuals, their families and researchers working together to advance the understanding of autism. Its mission is to improve the lives of people with autism by identifying the causes. This can help inform more effective therapies, treatments, services and supports. The study involves giving a saliva sample for DNA analysis. It is open to people with an autism diagnosis and the parents of children with autism spectrum disorder. SPARK can also connect participants with other autism research studies.

To learn more, see:

• SPARK: Understanding Autism
• After 20 Years, a Mom Finds an Answer (Video 2:52)

A registry is a place where researchers keep information about people who have a condition so they can learn more about it. If you’d like, we can add you to our autism research registry, overseen by Dr. Soo-Jeong Kim. Then, when we begin a new study that may fit your family, we can reach out to tell you about it and you can decide if you want to join.

To find out about joining the registry, call 206-987-7917 or email us.

Biomarkers are ways to measure how the body is working. Dr. Sara Webb works to develop biomarkers that tell how the brain and body work in children with autism and other conditions that affect the nervous system. She uses many ways to get information. These include measuring electrical activity in the brain and heart. She also tests where the eyes look (eye tracking) as a screening tool for toddlers who might have autism.

Webb aims to better understand why some children develop autism. She also wants to improve services for children with social challenges. She directs the Psychophysiology and Behavioral Systems Lab at Seattle Children’s Research Institute.

Seattle Children’s and the University of Washington are part of the Autism Biomarkers Consortium for Clinical Trials.

Four times more boys than girls are diagnosed with autism. Dr. Sara Webb wants to know why. It might be that signs of autism are different in females than in males. Or doctors may miss clues because girls are better at hiding their social struggles. Webb directed the Seattle site for the GENDAAR study. The study’s goal was to understand more about sex differences in brain structure, function, connections and genetics in youth with autism.

Dr. Sara Webb is working with others at the Research in Autism and the Brain Lab at the University of Washington on autism research. They want to learn more about brain signals in people with autism as well as neurotypical people. They use brain imaging, like fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), to look for differences in brain signals between the 2 groups. Behavioral assessments help them look for links between the signals and behavior.

Most children with 16p11.2 deletion syndrome have symptoms of autism. The syndrome happens when a small piece of chromosome 16 is missing. Seattle Children’s is part of a study to test the medicine arbaclofen in children who have this syndrome. It’s called the L16HTHOUSE study. Researchers are checking whether the medicine helps with development, such as speech, learning and social function.

Dr. Frederick Shic’s team at Seattle Children’s Innovative Technologies Lab makes and studies tools to understand and help children with autism. The tools include robots, video games and technologies that track where kids look and how they process information. These methods:

• Help engage children in learning
• Can help children look at problems in new ways
• Tell us about a child’s strengths and choices

More than 100 genetic changes are linked to autism. Dr. Stephen Smith’s lab works to find out:

• How these changes affect the way the brain works
• If different changes affect the brain in similar ways

Current research focuses on the connections between the brain’s nerve cells. These are called synapses. They control how the brain processes information. The lab’s long-term goal is to group children with autism based on how their genetic changes affect their brains. This would open the door to new treatments for different types of autism. His lab is part of our Norcliffe Foundation Center for Integrative Brain Research.

Study after study finds no link between the measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. Seattle Children’s doctors work to dispel fears so parents get the lifesaving MMR vaccine for their children. Our former Autism Center director wrote an editorial in the Journal of the American Medical Association about this issue.