Research

“Future research needs to focus not only on the biological markers of autism but also include data about functioning, participation, and environmental barriers and facilitators.”
Dr. Olaf Kraus de Camargo // Developmental Pediatrician

MacART is laying the foundation for creating a systematic way of linking scientific research on autism at McMaster University to clinical practice at McMaster Children’s Hospital.

The physical proximity of McMaster Children’s Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences, and McMaster University has a number of characteristics that provides the rare opportunity for collaborative research. Taking advantage of existing university and clinical infrastructure and cross-appointments for clinicians at the university, autism experts from these organizations are coming together to integrate autism research into clinical practice.

The focus of MacART members’ research is in the areas of basic science, clinical practice, clinical research, epidemiology and statistical modelling, knowledge translation and exchange, and social science research. By promoting the collaboration of stakeholders across disciplines, MacART is reducing barriers to implementing research in clinical practice, with the goal of advancing autism care through meaningful research.

Learn more about our research HERE.

Education

MacART members are now supervising more than 50 research trainees at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels, and are engaged in the mentoring of junior and intermediate faculty members.

In the future, we intend to establish research and clinical training programs for students in McMaster’s undergraduate medical, health sciences, and psychology programs, and for residents and fellows in Pediatrics and Psychiatry.

By training and mentoring emerging researchers and practitioners, we will help to solidify their understanding of and commitment to using basic science to inform their clinical practice, and to use their clinical experience to help formulate research questions. It is our belief that involving these learners in MacART educational activities will promote their use of practices that advance autism care through meaningful research.

Community

“Our scientists are working collaboratively with local clinicians to generate the evidence needed to improve autism services. This symposium is a great example of McMaster’s community engagement efforts.”
Dr. Patrick Deane // Former President & Vice-Chancellor // McMaster University

The community engagement component of MacART strives to work with stakeholders and involve them as partners in every step of the research process. By doing so, the questions that drive research begin to change. They become more meaningful because they address the real day-to-day challenges faced by children and their families, and the clinicians supporting them.

MacART aims to increase participation and involvement of members of the McMaster and Hamilton communities in the research process. With community members driving the research, new and relevant knowledge can be produced to bridge the research-to-practice gap in autism and advance autism care through meaningful research.

Policy

“People whose lives are connected to the challenge of autism can share knowledge – from clinicians to educators to parents – and what an amazing opportunity that is. We have a real opportunity to translate challenges into research, and research into practice that will help families living with Autism.”
Rob MacIsaac // President & CEO // Hamilton Health Sciences

Policies should be created using the best available evidence that make positive impacts on the lives of Autistic individuals, along with their families.

MacART’s founder, Dr. Stelios Georgiades, serves on both federal and provincial advisory committees about Autism supports/service funding. Along with the wide-ranging expertise of its many autism experts, MacART is set to act as a highly credible source of evidence-based information to influence and inform public policy about the provision and funding of autism diagnosis, services, and family supports.

MacART will continue to find ways to collaborate with policymakers to both learn more about the policymaking process, and to contribute our expertise and knowledge to inform policymaking, in order to advance Autism care through meaningful research.

MacART at IMFAR 2017

Research

“Future research needs to focus not only on the biological markers of autism but also include data about functioning, participation, and environmental barriers and facilitators.”
Dr. Olaf Kraus de Camargo // Developmental Pediatrician

MacART is laying the foundation for creating a systematic way of linking scientific research on autism at McMaster University to clinical practice at McMaster Children’s Hospital.

The physical proximity of McMaster Children’s Hospital, Hamilton Health Sciences, and McMaster University has a number of characteristics that provides the rare opportunity for collaborative research. Taking advantage of existing university and clinical infrastructure and cross-appointments for clinicians at the university, autism experts from these organizations are coming together to integrate autism research into clinical practice.

The focus of MacART members’ research is in the areas of basic science, clinical practice, clinical research, epidemiology and statistical modelling, knowledge translation and exchange, and social science research. By promoting the collaboration of stakeholders across disciplines, MacART is reducing barriers to implementing research in clinical practice, with the goal of advancing autism care through meaningful research.

Learn more about our research HERE.

Education

MacART members are now supervising more than 50 research trainees at the undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate levels, and are engaged in the mentoring of junior and intermediate faculty members.

In the future, we intend to establish research and clinical training programs for students in McMaster’s undergraduate medical, health sciences, and psychology programs, and for residents and fellows in Pediatrics and Psychiatry.

By training and mentoring emerging researchers and practitioners, we will help to solidify their understanding of and commitment to using basic science to inform their clinical practice, and to use their clinical experience to help formulate research questions. It is our belief that involving these learners in MacART educational activities will promote their use of practices that advance autism care through meaningful research.

Community

“Our scientists are working collaboratively with local clinicians to generate the evidence needed to improve autism services. This symposium is a great example of McMaster’s community engagement efforts.”
Dr. Patrick Deane // Former President & Vice-Chancellor // McMaster University

The community engagement component of MacART strives to work with stakeholders and involve them as partners in every step of the research process. By doing so, the questions that drive research begin to change. They become more meaningful because they address the real day-to-day challenges faced by children and their families, and the clinicians supporting them.

MacART aims to increase participation and involvement of members of the McMaster and Hamilton communities in the research process. With community members driving the research, new and relevant knowledge can be produced to bridge the research-to-practice gap in autism and advance autism care through meaningful research.

Policy

“People whose lives are connected to the challenge of autism can share knowledge – from clinicians to educators to parents – and what an amazing opportunity that is. We have a real opportunity to translate challenges into research, and research into practice that will help families living with Autism.”
Rob MacIsaac // President & CEO // Hamilton Health Sciences

Policies should be created using the best available evidence that make positive impacts on the lives of Autistic individuals, along with their families.

MacART’s founder, Dr. Stelios Georgiades, serves on both federal and provincial advisory committees about Autism supports/service funding. Along with the wide-ranging expertise of its many autism experts, MacART is set to act as a highly credible source of evidence-based information to influence and inform public policy about the provision and funding of autism diagnosis, services, and family supports.

MacART will continue to find ways to collaborate with policymakers to both learn more about the policymaking process, and to contribute our expertise and knowledge to inform policymaking, in order to advance Autism care through meaningful research.

Last week (May 10-13, 2017), the International Society for Autism Research (INSAR) held its annual scientific meeting – the International Meeting for Autism Research (IMFAR). Now in its 16th year, IMFAR is the oldest and largest autism research meeting in the world and only grows larger every year. More than 2,200 researchers, clinicians, and other participants from 50 countries gathered in San Francisco to learn about the latest scientific discoveries with over 1,500 panels, posters, and oral sessions. This included excellent representation from numerous MacART members!

MacART members took part in the following sessions. Click on the title to read the abstracts.

Oral sessions:

Trajectories of Reported Challenging Behaviours Derived from the Aberrant Behaviour Checklist in a Cohort of Canadian Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders – including Terry Bennett, Peter Szatmari, Eric Duku, and Stelios Georgiades
A Randomized Controlled Trial of Riluzole in Autism Spectrum Disorder – including Terry Bennett and Olaf Kraus de Camargo
Imitation, Joint Attention and Language Development in Autism Spectrum Disorder – including Eric Duku, Stelios Georgiades, Terry Bennett and Peter Szatmari
Parent and Clinician Agreement in Early Behaviour Signs in 12-Month-Old Infants at-Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder: A High-Risk Sibling Cohort – including Peter Szatmari and Caroline Roncadin

Poster sessions:

Profiles of Parental Personal/Social Coping Resources during Children’s Early School Years: Implication for Psychological Distress – including Peter Szatmari, Terry Bennett, Eric Duku, and Stelios Georgiades
Defining Stress and Crisis as Experienced by Parents of Children with Autism Navigating Intervention: Sub-Analysis of a Qualitative Study – including Steve Gentles and Peter Szatmari
The Job-Train Program: A Community-University Employment Preparation Initiative for Youth with ASD – including Briano Di Rezze, Terry Bennett, Geoff Hall, and Stelios Georgiades
Early Detection for Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder Using the Infant-Toddler Social and Emotional Assessment (ITSEA): A Prospective High-Risk Cohort Study – including Peter Szatmari and Caroline Roncadin
Building Employer Capacity to Support Meaningful Vocation for People with ASD: A Grounded Theory Study of Multi-Stakeholder Perspectives – including Briano Di Rezze
Preliminary Seizure Susceptibility and Threshold Characterization in Mouse Models Relevant to Angelman Syndrome and Chromosome 15q11.2-13 Duplications – including Jane Foster
Understanding Prevalence and Kindergarten Behavioural Profiles of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder – including Magdalena Janus, Ayesha Siddiqua, and Eric Duku
Discordance Across Time in Caregiver Report during the Autism Diagnostic Interview-Revised (ADI-R): Findings from a Canadian Inception Cohort of Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) – including Peter Szatmari, Terry Bennett, Eric Duku, and Stelios Georgiades
A TrkB Partial Agonist Rescues Autistic-like Behaviors in Adult Mice Prenatally Exposed to Valproic Acid – including Margaret Fahnestock and Jane Foster

Panel Discussions:

Promoting Partnerships Between Patient Advocacy Groups and Researchers to Improve Autism Research – with Stelios Georgiades as a panel discussant

Dr. Terry Bennett presenting on autism trajectories.

Dr. Stelios Georgiades preparing for his panel discussion with Alycia Halladay, Special Interest Group leader.