Autism Speaks' research database grows to nearly 16,000 genomes with new cohorts from South Korea, Canada and the U.S.

The Autism Speaks MSSNG genomic database has expanded to include 1,926 new whole-genome sequences, bringing the total number of autism-related genomes in the database to 15,748 along with thousands of additional population controls.

The expansion includes data from the Korean Autism Research Cohort (K-ARC), led by Dr. Hee Jeong Yoo, Professor of Psychiatry at Seoul National University College of Medicine and Director of the Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Clinic at Seoul National University Bundang Hospital. K-ARC is a collaboration among Seoul National University College of Medicine, Seoul National University Bundang Hospital, Korea University and the Center for Synaptic Brain Dysfunctions at the Institute for Basic Science. The release also includes data from the Children's Hospital Los Angeles and Ontario Brain Institute. Together, it builds on MSSNG's existing representation, which includes an established cohort from Qatar.

Launched in 2015, the MSSNG database is a collaboration between Autism Speaks, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids), DNAstack and Verily. The database provides researchers with access to whole-genome sequencing to support research into the genetic and biological factors associated with autism. Families participating in MSSNG provided informed consent for their data to be used for research. READ MORE.