Autism research led by scientists at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has been named one of the top ten medical breakthroughs of 2009 by Time Magazine.

On the magazine’s website on Dec. 8, Time cited the largest-ever genetic study of autism spectrum disorders (ASDs), published in April in the journal Nature, by a group led by Hakon Hakonarson, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Center for Applied Genomics at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. That study identified DNA variations that account for as many as 15 percent of all ASD cases. Because the gene region affects how brain cells connect with each other in early childhood, the research significantly advances the understanding of how the child behavior problem of autism originates.

“We are proud of this research discovery, and are glad to see it receive this recognition,” said Philip R. Johnson, M.D., chief scientific officer at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. “It provides a starting point for translating biological knowledge into future autism treatments.”

The autism gene research from Children’s Hospital, which included two studies in the same issue of Nature, received extensive news coverage, including the CBS Evening News, ABC World News Tonight, BBC, Reuters, the Chicago Tribune, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and other news outlets in the U.K., India, Australia, Germany and China. Hakonarson’s main collaborator was neuroscientist Gerard D. Schellenberg, Ph.D., of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, with other scientists participating from 14 additional centers.

SOURCE The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia