Cross-pollination of research findings, although uncommon, may accelerate discovery of human disease genes

Rising interdisciplinary collaborations refine our understanding of autisms and give hope to more personalized solutions

Autism is heterogeneous, complex and arguably a condition of many conditions. Both the number of researchers and the number of research collaborations in the field of autism have been growing at unprecedented rates. Interdisciplinary collaborations have increased more than eightfold since the year 2000. In fact, most - if not all - areas of autism research are starting to converge, and these convergences are leading not only to a richer research network but also to a causal network for autism. This network can, and likely will, decode the many forms of autism into its various subcomponents, enabling increasingly more personalized approaches for both the detection and treatment of those different forms of autism.