Above
(left to right): Dr. Idan Menashe, Dr. Gal Meiri, Dr. Ilan Dinstein
Scientists
from BGU and clinicians from Soroka University Medical Center have established
the Negev hospital-university-based (HUB) autism database, one of the most
unique autism databases in the world.
Approximately,
150 children are diagnosed with autism at Soroka every year. Integration of
research and technology into the diagnostic visits and later follow up visits,
allows this multidisciplinary team, led by Dr. Gal
Meiri (Soroka), Dr.
Ilan Dinstein (BGU), and Dr. Idan Menashe (BGU) to collect a wide variety
of data from these children without requiring additional visits to the lab.
These data include behavioral information from parental questionnaires and from
voice and video recordings of the child during the diagnostic assessment,
detailed information about the child and family from the Soroka electronic
patient records system, genetic samples, and various neurological measures from
EEG and eye-tracking tests.
“Scientists
around the world have come to realize that autism is not a single disorder, but
rather a family of distinct disorders that are likely generated by different
causes. An important goal of the Negev Hub database initiative is to facilitate
identification of different autism subtypes. The availability of a wide-variety
of data from a relatively large and unbiased sample of young children with
autism will allow scientists to “connect the dots” from potential causes (e.g.
genetics) through associated brain abnormalities to precise behavioral and
cognitive outcomes in children with autism. Such an understanding of specific
types of autism is essential for translating the science into new targeted
clinical treatments,” says Dr. Idan Menashe.
The database is housed in the Negev Autism Center – an ongoing collaboration
between BGU and Soroka that is dedicated to translational autism research. The
unique qualities of the HUB autism database, and the interdisciplinary
collaboration between the authors of this paper, make the Negev Autism Center,
powered by the HUB autism database, a valuable national resource that will
contribute to autism research and clinical care on a global scale.
Dr.
Gal Meiri, “A special connection develops through The Negev Autism Center
between children and their parents from the Negev community, the clinicians who
diagnose them and leading autism researchers, who are all working together. The
innovative comprehensive care provided by Soroka and BGU is the basis for data
collection from the clinical centers, especially the Pediatric Psychiatry
Service and the Child Development Center, combined with medical and demographic
information from additional related units at Soroka dealing with parents,
pregnancy, birth and children throughout their development. The research
contributes immediately to improving the service and the families welcome the
integration of the research team into the clinical team, as evidenced by the
high demand to participate in the center’s studies. This center provides a rare
opportunity to collect a wide range of information about risk factors for autism
and offers a platform to assess current and new and innovative interventions,
personalized for the child and his/her family.”
Dr.
Ilan Dinstein, ”As part of the center’s activities and to create the database,
we established a number of unique labs at Soroka that enable us to record a wide
array of behaviors including eye movement, body movement, voice recordings, and
even brain activity in sleep. These are laboratories with cutting-edge
equipment, some of which we created ourselves with the help of the engineers of
BGU’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. Most of the necessary information is
gathered during the clinical diagnosis and therefore the families do not have to
return for additional examinations to gather more data. We are excited about the
opportunity to apply this data - first and foremost, to improve the diagnosis
and treatment of autism.”
Dr.
Gal Meiri is head of the Preschool Psychiatry Unit at Soroka and a member of
BGU's Faculty of Health Sciences. Dr. Ilan Dinstein is head of the Autism
Neuroimaging Lab and a member of the Psychology and the Brain and Cognitive
Science Departments. Dr. Idan Menashe is the head of the Autism Genetic
Epidemiology Lab and a member of the Department of Public Health, Faculty of
Health Sciences at BGU.
