Dorota Crawford Archives | Research & Innovation

91��ɫ Autism Research Alliance shares research findings with wider autism community

fmaquito — Tue, 03 May 2011 08:00:00 +0000

Some 24 outside agencies came to the inaugural 91��ɫ Autism Research Alliance’s Research Showcase at 91��ɫ last week to hear what researchers were working on – everything from isolating three to 20 genes potentially responsible for Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) to looking at how children with ASD process visual and auditory information.

“The take home message is that autism research here at 91��ɫ isn’t just one thing,” psychology Professor Jonathan Weiss, chair of the 91��ɫ Autism Research Alliance (YARA) in the Faculty of Health, told the audience. “We want you to have a picture as you walk away from today of the breadth at which different faculty members with different areas of expertise are doing research.”

Left: Dorota Crawford (standing, left) and Jonathan Weiss answering questions from the audience

YARA is an interdisciplinary team of researchers at 91��ɫ that has been in existence for about two years. This was the first time it has reached out to a large range of community service providers as a group. The event was sponsored by .

“The goal was to provide an overview of the incredible range of autism research at 91��ɫ and reach out to service providers and start a conversation with them,” said Weiss. “It’s really about knowledge exchange. This was the first step in that exchange, and they can let us know what they are interested in. Rather than a one way street, it breaks down the academic silos.”

Weiss has just finished two pilot projects using cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) with people with ASD – one used CBT to help reduce anxiety and the other used it to help build anger management skills. Weiss wants to know if the interventions that already exist can be adapted to help children with ASD, who also suffer from things like anxiety and aggression.

Right: Kari Hoffman explains her research at the inaugural showcase of the 91��ɫ Autism Research Alliance

But that’s not all; he is also interested in knowing whether the level of health care and access to service for families with a teenager or adult with ASD is lacking in various parts of the province, what health care services they need and their experience of the system, and has embarked on a study to find out.

Dorota Crawford, a professor in 91��ɫ’s School of Kinesiology & Health Science, told the gathering she is researching whether genes or the environment are responsible for ASD. One of the things she is doing is trying to identify the genes responsible for specific symptoms of ASD and determine how they affect brain function. She has so far recruited 20 families with a child with ASD to give genetic material samples through a mouth swab to be able to compare genes. She is hoping her research will lead to an earlier diagnosis (before the age of two), earlier intervention and development of specific pharmaceuticals.

“The incidence of autism in the last three decades has increased dramatically,” she said. In 1977, only one in 2,500 people were diagnosed with ASD, while in 2009 one in 106 people were diagnosed. Of those being diagnosed, males are four times as likely as females to have ASD.

Left: From left, Jonathan Weiss, Adrienne Perry, James Bebko, Dorota Crawford, Jennifer Steeves, Maz Fallah, Louise Hartley, director of the 91��ɫ Psychology Clinic, and Tania Xerri, director of the Health Leadership & Learning Network

Psychology Professor Kari Hoffman told the audience about her work with social and emotional processing, the destination points for processing and the routes taken, which may be different in people with ASD than in a typical person.

School of Kinesiology & Health Science Professor Maz Fallah is interested in what things people with ASD pay attention to that may differ from others, what is the reason for that and what interventions could help. People who have an ASD have a persistent preoccupation with parts. “They cannot see the forest for the trees,” says Fallah, and that might have to do with an object-based attention deficit, for instance.

As psychology Professor Jennifer Steeves says, “There’s a lot we take for granted when we look around the room, but there’s a lot of computations that are taking place in the brain.”

This plays into what psychology Professor James Bebko is researching. Children with ASD don’t seem to be able to combine visual and auditory cues into a single unit, which is needed to assess emotion when watching and listening to someone talking. Their sensory systems seem largely intact, he said, so it may be that the problem lies in the processing or the transitional skills needed before the processing occurs.

What psychology Professor Adrienne Perry is looking into is the effectiveness of Intensive Behavioural Intervention (IBI), the program of choice for treating children with ASD. But Perry says the results in the field are variable compared to those in a controlled situation and she wants to know why. She is looking at the predictors of how well IBI works, such as age, IQ and severity of autism, as well as parent involvement.

“It’s great to see that research is going to look at family stress and at the IBI. We really struggle in the community to know what to do,” said Penny Diamantopoulos, a case manager with the child and family team of the (Central CCAC).

Dawn Ullman, also a case manager at Central CCAC, says she hopes the alliance does some follow up with the community in the next year or so. She would like to know what the results are of some of the research the professors highlighted. “I really want to know the bottom line” as the person working with the families.

For more information, visit the 91��ɫ Autism Research Alliance website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Dorota Crawford's research shows misoprostol prevents cell communication

fmaquito — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000

Drug has been linked to neurodevelopmental defects associated with autism

A 91��ɫ study has shown for the first time how the drug misoprostol, which has been linked to neurodevelopmental defects associated with autism, interferes with neuronal cell function.

It is an important finding because is similar in structure to naturally occurring prostaglandins, which are the key signalling molecules produced by fatty acids in the brain. The drug is used to prevent ulcers in people who take certain arthritis or pain medicines, including aspirin, that can cause ulcers. It protects the stomach lining and decreases stomach acid secretion.

Past clinical studies have shown an association between misoprostol and severe neurodevelopmental defects including autism symptoms. Those studies looked at cases in Brazil in which women misused the drug early in pregnancy in unsuccessful attempts to terminate their pregnancies.

The 91��ɫ study examined mouse neuronal cells to discover how the drug actually interferes at a molecular level with prostaglandins, which are important for development and communication of cells in the brain.

“Early in the first trimester of pregnancy, neuronal cells reach out to communicate with one another,” says Dorota Crawford, a professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health. “Our study shows that misoprostol interferes with this process by increasing the level of calcium ions in neuronal extensions, which reduces the number and length of these extensions. It prevents the cells from communicating with each other. If changes in prostaglandin level alter the development or differentiation of cells, it may have a physiological impact.”

Left: Dorota Crawford

Crawford and Javaneh Tamiji, who undertook the research for her master’s thesis in the Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program at 91��ɫ, co-authored a study published online in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications: “Prostaglandin E2 and misoprostol induce neurite retraction in Neuro-2a cells”.

There is no indication that women in Canada are misusing misoprostol to terminate pregnancies, and in fact the drug is used safely for other purposes such as treatment and prevention of gastrointestinal ulcers. However, during early neuronal development the drug misoprostol or other environmental factors such as infections or inflammations, which can also increase the level of prostaglandins, may interfere with normal brain function, says Crawford.

Right: Javaneh Tamiji

Crawford and Tamiji focused on the drug misoprostol because they had evidence from clinical studies of the neurotoxic effects of the drug. They used misoprostol and the naturally occurring prostaglandins side by side in their study and found that both compounds produced the same effects on neuronal cell function.

The study shows that misoprostol interferes with the prostaglandin pathway in a dose-dependent manner – in other words, the higher the dose, the greater the problems created.

“What that indicates to us is whether it is infection that will activate it or whether it is the drug, it will cause the same effect,” says Crawford.

Now that it has been shown that misoprostol affects interaction between cells, the next step will be to do animal studies on mice to examine the physiological impacts on particular parts of the brain, she says.

Crawford’s lab is one of very few in the world that has adopted a multidisciplinary approach to the study of autism spectrum disorders, using molecular techniques to understand the link between causative biological factors (genes and environment) and the behavioural expression.

This research was funded by the . The provided equipment used in the study.

It has also received coverage on MedicalNewsToday.com:

A 91��ɫ study has shown for the first time how the drug misoprostol, which has been linked to neurodevelopmental defects associated with autism, interferes with neuronal cell function.

91��ɫ Professor Dorota Crawford, of the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in the Faculty of Science & Enginering, and graduate student Javaneh Tamiji, who undertook the research for her master’s thesis in the Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program at 91��ɫ, co-authored a study published online in the journal Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications: “Prostaglandin E2 and misoprostol induce neurite retraction in Neuro-2a cells”.

By Janice Walls, media relations officer

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ hosts its first Neuroscience Research Day

fmaquito — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 08:00:00 +0000

The first cohort of students graduating from 91��ɫ’s Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program will present their leading-edge research today as part of the University’s first Neuroscience Research Day. The presentations will take place from 9am to 3:30pm in 163 Behavioural Sciences Building on 91��ɫ's Keele campus.

Fifteen students will offer summaries of their research. The students come to the program from different backgrounds, including computer science, psychology, biology, and kinesiology & health science.

"This day marks the culmination of two years of intense neuroscience studies for our first group of students," says Professor Doug Crawford (left), and the program’s coordinator. "They are a wonderful group and I am extremely proud of them"

Today’s presentations cover a wide range of approaches to neuroscience, ranging from research on molecular and cellular mechanisms in nerve cells and the relationship between the elements of neural systems, to the study of behaviour of whole organisms.

Psychology Professors Shayna Rosenbaum and Kari Hoffman have been hard at work coordinating the Neuroscience Research Day. “We began a neuroscience graduate diploma program at 91��ɫ in 2008. It combines the interests of the psychology, biology, and kinesiology & health sciences program,” says Rosenbaum. “This is the end of the second year of the program, which is a two-year consecutive program that is done in conjunction with the graduate students’ home department and their degree. [They are given a diploma in addition to their degree.] While the Neuroscience Research Day program is focused on the students, the event is also a celebration of the wide range of research interests among our neuroscience research faculty.”

Above: The class of 2010 and neuroscience faculty

The graduating students will be presenting a range of projects, says Rosenbaum, that draw on different methodologies. Some students will be showcasing work done using a molecular approach, while others will be presenting research that looks at neuroscience from a systems focus. Other students, says Rosenbaum, have relied on neuroimaging methods and some have done their research with patient populations. The breadth of projects that will be presented during the research day, says Rosenbaum, mirrors the program faculty's multidisciplinary approach to neuroscience.

Left: Shayna Rosenbaum

The following is a snapshot of some of the 15 research projects that will be presented today:

David Cappadocia (BSc Spec. Hons. ’08), is a second-year master's student working with Crawford. Cappadocia will present on his research into how the brain remembers different features of an object, so that when it is time to act on the object, it can be discriminated from other similar objects.

Caitlin Mullin (MSc ’08), a PhD student, is studying how different parts of the brain form representations of the visual world around us. Mullin is using transcranial magnetic stimulation to apply a brief magnetic pulse to a specific part of the brain. This temporarily deactivates the brain region, allowing Mullin to determine how it functions. Mullin is supervised by 91��ɫ psychology Professor Jennifer Steeves.

PhD student Krista Kelly will present her research that looks into the effects of losing one eye early in life. Specifically, Kelly is researching how that loss affects brain organization and visual ability. Working under the supervision of Steeves, Kelly is using functional brain imaging to correlate findings with behavioural measures of performance.

Master's students Javaneh Tamiji (BSc Spec. Hons. ’08) and Shannon Lozinsky are working with kinesiology Professor Dorota Crawford. They will present their research on the causes of autism, a disorder of the brain. Using state-of-the-art equipment funded by the , Tamiji and Lozinsky are investigating how environmental agents, such as drugs taken during early pregnancy, affect function and communication of cells in the brain. The goal of their project is to achieve a better understanding of what is different or missing in the brains of individuals with autism.

91��ɫ PhD student Debi Stransky (BSc Spec. Hons. ’06, MSc ’08) is investigating stereoscopic depth perception across a large range of depth offsets under the supervision of 91��ɫ psychology Professor Laurie Wilcox. There is convincing evidence that there is a separate depth processing mechanism for images that cannot be fused into a single percept. Stransky is determining the quality of depth perceived from such stimuli and if these percepts are subserved from distinct neural mechanisms. Her work is funded by a postgraduate fellowship from the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

91��ɫ PhD student Inna Tsirlin (BSc Spec. Hons. ’04, MSc ’06) is studying depth perceptions from monocular occlusions. These are regions in a scene that are visible to one eye, but not to the other because they are occluded, for instance by objects in the foreground. For many years this information was considered noise. Tsirlin's work has shown that monocular occlusions help define the boundaries between objects and backgrounds, and can even provide quantitative depth information. Tsirlin is working under the supervision of Wilcox and her work is funded by a postgraduate fellowship from NSERC.

Left: Kari Hoffman

PhD student Stephanie Hornyak, who specializes in clinical neuropsychology, is investigating how brain regions communicate with each other to support spatial memory of well-known environments learned long ago. Under the supervision of 91��ɫ psychology Professor Shayna Rosenbaum, she has used an innovative method of combining functional MRI with multivariate statistics, which will help predict how brain networks may break down in patients who suffer from spatial disorientation.

91��ɫ master’s student Adrian Bartlett (BA Spec. Hons. ’08) is studying how the eye movements we use to scan the environment may shape the neural basis of object recognition. Using spectral analysis of neuronal population activity, his research has revealed that eye movements help coordinate the activity of neurons, leading to a stronger, more efficient code of what we’re viewing, Bartlett is the recipient of an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarship and is supervised by psychology Professor Kari Hoffman.

“All the research being presented is very exciting and it is also an important year because 91��ɫ has acquired functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) technology,” says Rosenbaum. “The day also offers students another forum for networking and will help them build future collaborations.”

Everyone in the University community is invited to attend the presentations. The deans of the , and Graduate Studies will also give presentations.

For more information, visit the Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Web site.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91��ɫ study makes key discovery about autism's beginnings

fmaquito — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 08:00:00 +0000

A gene mutation found in some people with autism appears to disrupt very early stages of brain development and contribute to the nervous system deficits that are the hallmarks of autism disorder, a 91��ɫ study has found.

The study traces the link from autism and a mutated gene to the molecular mechanisms of cell signalling that occur as the brain is developing. It provides the first direct evidence that this gene influences brain development and the incidence of autistic behaviour.

Modern imaging equipment and molecular neuroscience techniques enabled the researchers to show how the protein encoded by this gene controls normal cell function and how this fails when the gene is mutated in individuals with autism.

“If we can identify defects in genes or molecules and the signalling pathways early in brain development – as we have in this study – then it should be possible to develop more effective treatments for children within three years of age, which is when autism is diagnosed,” said Dorota Crawford (left), a professor of kinesiology & health science in the Faculty of Health at 91��ɫ.

The study, titled “The E646D-ATP13A4 Mutation Associated with Autism Reveals a Defect in Calcium Regulation”, is published in the journal Cellular and Molecular Neurobiology. It represents a critical step toward the eventual development of pharmaceutical treatments for children affected with autism. It will also be of interest to scientists who are studying the same family of proteins, which are involved in other neurological diseases such as Parkinson’s disease.

Crawford found the gene mutation in a 2005 study of individuals with autism spectrum disorders (ASD), which are characterized by lifelong impairment in communication and social interaction, coupled with repetitive behaviour, and affect about 190,000 Canadians. That study, in which blood samples were examined for their genetic content, revealed an unknown gene that was mutated in about 20 per cent of the autistic individuals tested – a genetic marker for autism.

In the current study, Crawford, working with former 91��ɫ undergraduate student Janaki Vallipuram (BSc Spec. Hons. ’09), who is first author on the paper, and former 91��ɫ graduate student Jeffrey Grenville (MSc ’09), characterized the biological function of the protein in the mutated gene. They determined that it is involved in calcium signaling, which is critical for the development of neurons, and then showed that the mutation may contribute to neuronal deficits in the brain and autism.

Right: The research paper's first author, Janaki Vallipuram (right), was featured on the cover of the of 91��ɫU magazine with alumnus and Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby. See her profile .

Crawford is on the faculty of 91��ɫ’s growing Neuroscience Graduate Diploma Program and is a member of the 91��ɫ Autism Alliance, a new research group whose interdisciplinary approach includes clinical, behavioural and neurophysiological experiments. Researchers in Crawford’s molecular neuroscience laboratory at 91��ɫ are examining how genetic, molecular and cellular neurobiology and environmental factors contribute to the brain development of children with autism.

The recently completed study is the first to use a state-of-the-art microscope imaging system funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Ontario Research Fund, which was essential because it allowed researchers to take images of living neuronal cells. The study was also supported by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada.

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