Collaborative Programs of Excellence in Autism (CPEAs)

On this page:

• What are the CPEAs?
• What is the CPEA Data Coordinating Center?

• How can I get involved in the CPEA Network?
• Which sites are hosting the programs?
• How can I get more information on the CPEAs?

What are the CPEAs?

NIDCD and the National Institute of Child Health & Human Development are funding $105 million over 10 years to coordinate research on the genetic, immunological, and environmental factors that may cause autism.

Each of the nine participating sites focuses on a particular aspect of autism; their findings are combined to study broader research questions. The CPEA Network links more than 120 scientists from 23 universities worldwide and more than 2,000 families of people with autism.

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What is the CPEA Data Coordinating Center?

In 2003, the CPEA Network launched a Data Coordinating Center in Medford, Massachusetts, to provide data management and statistical support for Network activities. The Center will also maintain a website to facilitate communication and coordinate activities within the CPEAs. Three groups are managing different tasks in the Data Coordinating Center: DMSTAT, Inc.; the Boston University Statistics and Consulting Unit; and the Department of Biostatistics at the Boston University School of Public Health. The Center will provide combined support for the CPEA Network and for the eight sites of the Studies to Advance Autism Research and Treatment (STAART) Centers Program, a five-year, $65 million effort supported by five NIH Institutes. Such support will allow more data to be processed quickly and compared, which may increase the speed of discoveries from these research efforts.

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How can I get involved in the CPEA Network?

If you are interested in taking part in one of the CPEA studies, or want more information about one of the sites, contact the Network site nearest you (see following section). You are welcome to participate in many different studies, but you can take part in only one study of genetics. The success of this research depends on family participation. To find out what studies related to autism are currently looking for participants, please visit ClinicalTrials.gov or call 1-800-411-1222.

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Which sites are hosting the programs?

Boston University is using structural and functional magnetic resonance imaging to study social-communicative abilities in autism, language delays and problems in autism, and brain pathology underlying social-communicative and language impairments in autism.

The University of California, Davis, is studying imitation and motor function in autism; measurement, predictors, course, causes, and external validity of regression in autism; and the developmental course of autism.

The University of California, Los Angeles, is studying how social, communication, and language deficits in autism start and develop; follow-up and extension of treatments for autism; phenotype and genotype in inversion and duplication of chromosome 15; and neuroimaging and deficits in social communication in autism.

The University of Pittsburgh, in conjunction with Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Illinois at Chicago, is studying how persons with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome organize information into concepts; visual perception and visual processing in persons with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome; sensory, motor, and executive problems in persons with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome; and functional brain imaging of language and cognition in persons with high-functioning autism and Asperger syndrome.

The University of Rochester Medical Center, in conjunction with the University of Rochester Medical Center's Departments of Pediatrics and Neurology, the Hospital for Sick Children (Toronto), Cornell Medical College, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is studying animal models and mechanisms of injury in autism; behaviors that distinguish autism from other disorders; and mutations in genes involved in early development and influences on gene function.

The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (Affiliated Program) is studying the development of communication and social behavior and its relationship to brain function in autism; abnormalities in brain structure related to autism; and animal brain structure, injury, and behavior.

The University of Utah is studying the genetics and genetic susceptibility of autism; brain development; and serotonin function and immune system functioning in autism.

The University of Washington is studying the relationships between the brain and behavior in autism; language problems characteristic of autism; early diagnosis of autism and resulting outcomes; neuroimaging of autism; and the genetics of autism.

Yale University, in conjunction with the University of Michigan, the University of Chicago, and Harvard University, is studying the genetics of persons with autism and Asperger syndrome, their families, and family members with related disorders; changes to the nervous system in autism; and behavior problems, epilepsy, and puberty in adolescents with autism. This CPEA also supports regression studies that seek to define the phenomena, predict outcomes, and evaluate medical factors that may play a role, such as vaccines, seizures, and prenatal conditions.

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How can I get more information on the CPEAs?

The NICHD maintains a comprehensive CPEA site at www.nichd.nih.gov/autism/research.cfm. You also may contact

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