NIH Launches $50 Million Autism Data Science Initiative

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched the Autism Data Science Initiative (ADSI), a research effort to harness large-scale data resources to explore contributors to the causes and rising prevalence of autism spectrum disorder. More than $50 million in awards will support 13 pioneering projects that draw on genomic, epigenomic, metabolomic, proteomic, clinical, behavioral and autism services data. These projects will integrate, aggregate and analyze existing data resources, generate targeted new data and validate findings through independent replication hubs.

A key feature of ADSI is the use of exposomics — the comprehensive study of environmental, medical and lifestyle factors in combination with genetics and biology. Projects will investigate a wide range of influences, including environmental contaminants such as pesticides and air pollutants, maternal nutrition and diet, perinatal complications, psychosocial stress and immune responses during pregnancy and early development.

Examples of funded efforts include examining how prenatal exposures interact with genetic risk in large autism cohorts, how causal inference methods can clarify contributors to rising prevalence and how adult outcomes such as community participation and mental health can be improved through service innovations. Independent replication and validation centers will test models across diverse populations, ensuring findings are transparent, reproducible and useful for real-world application.

Each ADSI research team will work in partnership with the autism community to help shape the direction of the research and ensure the perspectives of autistic individuals, caregivers and service providers inform the initiative.