QBRI-NDRC to position itself as a regional centre for autism research

The Neurological Disorders Research Centre (NDRC) at Qatar Biomedical Research Institute, part of Hamad Bin Khalifa University, is working to establish a regional centre for autism research and an autism registry in Qatar, an official told 'Gulf Times'. “The NDRC is committed to establishing a regional centre for autism research that will contribute to improving early diagnosis, intervention, and treatment of autism spectrum disorders,” disclosed Dr Lawrence Stanton, director, NDRC.As the World Autism Awareness Day is marked today, increased efforts and awareness programmes are being undertaken all across the country and beyond to bring individuals with autism to the mainstream of life and provide them necessary tools to face the challenges. Dr Stanton also highlighted the efforts of the centre in awareness raising of the disorder. “NDRC is also working on establishing the first ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder) registry in Qatar and to develop innovative early diagnostic and screening tools using eye tracking technology in collaboration with the Cleveland Clinic,” Dr Stanton said. “In addition, NDRC aims to establish the first Arabic digital phenotyping for social communication behaviours as a diagnostic tool for Autism, using machine learning and artificial intelligence in collaboration with Argus Cognitive Inc., US,” he continued. Dr Stanton noted that NDRC focuses on investigating neurological disorders of increasing prevalence in Qatar and the region. “These disorders range from neurodevelopmental conditions such as Autism Spectrum Disorder, intellectual disability and epilepsy to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease,” explained the director.NDRC focuses on research in neurological disorders of high prevalence in Qatar and pan-Arabic region to elucidate the underlying molecular mechanism for diagnosis and therapeutic interventions. These disorders are diverse and range from neurodevelopmental diseases, such as ASD, intellectual disability and epilepsy, to neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease.NDRC has the potential to greatly impact the visibility of neurological disorders in Qatar and the region, not only by bringing new treatments and hope to patients, but also by significantly accelerating the pace of therapeutic development using technologies, such as experimental disease modelling, biomarker analyses, gene therapy, and stem cell.Current projects of NDRC on autism include: Identification of Genes Associated with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Qatari Population; Creating Stem Cell lines from Autistic Qataris and their Non-affected Family Members to Study Autism and generation and Functional Characterisation of Autistic Neurons and Brain Organoids.