Recent estimates indicate a prevalence of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in the United States of 1 in 59 children with a well-established 4:1 male predominance.
Individual costs for care are estimated at about $2.4 million, yielding a societal burden that is expected to exceed $400 billion by 2025. Currently, there are no FDA-approved medications that improve the core symptoms of ASD.
Neuroscientists in the laboratory of Randy D. Blakely, Ph.D., professor of biomedical science in Florida Atlantic University’s Schmidt College of Medicine and executive director of the FAU Brain Institute, are focused on serotonin, a mood-regulating molecule in the brain that regulates many brain synapses -; the gaps between nerve cells where signals are sent and received.
