Toward Autism: Exposures Affecting Neuroexcitability and Oxidative Stress

From University of California Berkeley Events

June 7, 2012

Dr. Isaac Pessah of the Center for Children's Environmental Health and the M.I.N.D. Institute at the University of California Davis explains that genetic and environmental factors interact to cause autism, which takes many forms.

Research on the less stable parts of the genome identified genetic copy number variants as important. Environmental factors may contribute to making autism more severe.

This was part of a symposium organized by the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment of Cal/EPA, the Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit at UCSF and the Center for Integrative Research on Childhood Leukemia and the Environment at U.C. Berkeley.

Research funding came from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

About Dr. Isaac Pessah

Dr. Pessah is Professor of Toxicology at U.C. Davis and Director of the NIEHS Center for Children's Environmental Health and Disease Prevention, a collaborative research initiative focused on examining how toxic chemicals influence the development of autism in children. He is also a member of the Center for Neuroscience and the M.I.N.D. Institute. In his 18 years at U.C. Davis, Dr. Pessah has co-authored more than 110 peer-reviewed papers.

This year, Pessah received the inaugural Autism Speaks/CAN (Cure Autism Now) Environmental Innovator Award, given in recognition of his ongoing research into the biological impact of environmental toxic exposures.