“In search of the elusive biomarkers of ASD: Challenges and opportunities in neuroimaging and eye tracking research”

Hosted by the Department of Psychiatry and the Intellectual and Developmental Disability Research Center (IDDRC).

This lecture is part of the Developmental Psychopathology Series, which is integrated as part of the Department of Psychiatry Research Seminar.

Over the past decade of research on autism spectrum disorder (ASD), there has been a dramatic shift in the types of questions that researchers have been asking using neuroimaging and eye tracking methodologies. While in the past the focus has been on elucidating and understanding neural and behavioral mechanisms, the more recent goal has been to elucidate neural and behavioral biomarkers. This shift has brought a wealth of new methods, approaches, people, and perspectives into the field, yet has so far failed to produce clinically-actionable results. In this talk, Dr. Kennedy will take a step back and try to identify some of the challenges facing the field and opportunities for trying to overcoming them. 

Dr. Kennedy’s research focuses on the neural and cognitive mechanisms underlying human social behavior, and how these mechanisms break down in individuals with autism. Research methods include eye tracking, functional neuroimaging, and behavioral and cognitive testing. Dr. Kennedy’s research focuses on several different study populations, including healthy children and adults, individuals with autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders, and patients with localized brain lesions.

For inquiries contact Daniel Gray.