SFARI’s mission is to improve the understanding, diagnosis and treatment of autism spectrum disorders by funding innovative research of the highest quality and relevance.
SFARI is working to advance autism science by providing a number of key resources to researchers.
Funding Opportunities
We solicit applications for SFARI Awards from individuals who will conduct bold, imaginative, rigorous and relevant research in four main research areas: gene discovery, molecular mechanisms, circuits, cognition and behavior, and clinical.
Since its launch in 2006, SFARI has supported over 550 investigators studying autism-related research in the U.S. and abroad. Research projects include studies at the genetic, molecular, cellular, circuit and behavioral levels, in addition to clinical and translational studies.
Research Highlights
Kimberly Huber, Joel Richter and colleagues showed that FMRP deficiency in mice leads to changes in a key histone modification across the genome, with subsequent effects on alternative splicing of many ASD risk genes.
Benjamin Blencowe and colleagues defined the functional roles of microexons in genes encoding translation initiation factors, linking them to altered translation, synaptic plasticity and behavior.
Eric Morrow, Stephen Sheinkopf and colleagues reported the characteristics of the first 1,000 participants in the RI-CART study, a population-based cohort of individuals with autism in Rhode Island.