{"id":2872,"date":"2017-04-28T19:31:30","date_gmt":"2017-04-28T23:31:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/neuroscience\/brotherly-love-no-matter-what\/"},"modified":"2018-07-05T13:47:54","modified_gmt":"2018-07-05T17:47:54","slug":"brotherly-love-no-matter-what","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.med.unc.edu\/neuroscience\/brotherly-love-no-matter-what\/","title":{"rendered":"Brotherly Love, No Matter What"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- description --><\/p>\n<p class=\"lead\">UNC undergraduate Austin Ludwig works at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities to play a role in autism research he hopes will help millions of people, perhaps even his younger brother.<\/p>\n<div id=\"parent-fieldname-text\" class=\"plain\">\n<p>When Austin Ludwig was 11, he didn\u2019t know what to make of his younger brother Mason. He didn\u2019t know what to tell friends who wondered why Mason couldn\u2019t talk at age 4. Austin felt embarrassed, but the older Austin got and the more he learned about autism, the more he wanted to help.<\/p>\n<p>In high school, Austin would sit with special needs kids at lunch, get to know them, befriend them, get them things they needed. He volunteered during his free periods, during lunch, after school. He\u2019d help teachers, doing whatever they needed him to do. He volunteered at state-run facilities for people with autism, at the Miracle League of the Triangle, and the Autism Society of NC.<\/p>\n<p>As class president, Austin led a senior service project \u2013 a charity golf tournament to raise money for the North Carolina Autism Society. Calling it \u201cChipping in for Autism,\u201d Austin and a friend raised $2,045 for the Autism Society of NC. The money amount wasn\u2019t the point. The experience changed Austin.<\/p>\n<p>One February day in 2016, Austin was online searching for research opportunities, when he came across the website for the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.cidd.unc.edu\/\">CIDD<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew Carolina was great at autism research, but I didn\u2019t know anything about it,\u201d Austin said. \u201cWhen I found that site, I saw Renee Clark\u2019s number and called it.\u201d Clark manages the CIDD research registry, which contains the names of more than 6,000 North Carolina families with a child diagnosed with autism. These families have volunteered to be contacted by UNC researchers conducting various studies. They\u2019ve been invaluable in helping UNC researchers study early onset of autism and develop interventions that have been shown to improve the social and emotional outcomes for kids.<\/p>\n<p>The CIDD wound up hiring Austin to do community outreach to try to recruit more families to help with research.<\/p>\n<p>Now Austin is part of SPARK, <a href=\"https:\/\/sparkforautism.org\/?code=unc\">an ambitious research project<\/a> in collaboration with the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.teacch.com\/\">UNC TEACCH Autism Program<\/a>, aiming to sequence the genomes of 50,000 people with autism, as well as immediate family members. It\u2019s funded by the Simons Foundation, which enlisted 21 research universities around the country to recruit families willing to participate. <a href=\"http:\/\/news.unchealthcare.org\/news\/2016\/april\/unc-joins-launch-of-spark-nation2019s-largest-autism-research-study\">UNC-Chapel Hill is one of them<\/a>. In fact, Carolina was one of three pilot sites Simons chose to determine if such a project was even feasible.<\/p>\n<p>SPARK is founded on the idea that autism is a complex disease that involves many genes. If scientists can analyze the genomes of many people with autism and family members, then they might be able to eventually link specific genetic profiles to specific kinds of behaviors and symptoms. If that\u2019s possible, then doctors such as those at the CIDD could begin to tailor interventions and treatments based on a person\u2019s genetic profile.<\/p>\n<p>SPARK, though, is just one part of UNC\u2019s massive research endeavor related to autism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s exciting here at UNC is that we have one of the largest programs of autism research in the world,\u201d said Joe Piven, director of the CIDD and the Thomas E. Castelloe Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry, Pediatrics and Psychology at the UNC School of Medicine. \u201cAnd our research spans the full range from basic science to clinical research to applied research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year, Piven\u2019s team led research <a href=\"http:\/\/news.unchealthcare.org\/news\/2017\/february\/researchers-use-mris-to-predict-which-high-risk-babies-will-develop-autism-as-toddlers\">published in <i>Nature<\/i><\/a><i> <\/i>in which they used MRIs to predict which high-risk babies would develop autism as toddlers. Piven\u2019s team also <a href=\"http:\/\/news.unchealthcare.org\/news\/2017\/march\/infant-mris-show-autism-linked-to-increased-cerebrospinal-fluid\">led research<\/a> using MRIs to measure the amount of cerebrospinal fluid in the brains of babies. Researchers then linked increased amounts of fluid to autism diagnoses at age 2. Both papers, and a third soon-to-be-published paper, show it is possible to predict autism before symptoms appear.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe more we understand about the brain before symptoms appear, the better prepared we will be to help children and their families,\u201d Piven said.<\/p>\n<p>On the basic science front, last year Mark Zylka, PhD, Director of the UNC Neuroscience Center, led <a href=\"http:\/\/news.unchealthcare.org\/news\/2016\/march\/could-a-new-class-of-fungicides-play-a-role-in-autism-neurodegenerative-diseases\">groundbreaking work on potential environmental triggers of autism<\/a>. His lab tested hundreds of commonly used chemicals to determine which ones produce gene expression changes in mouse neurons similar to genetic expression changes found in people with autism and neurodegenerative conditions, including Alzheimer\u2019s disease and Huntington\u2019s disease.<\/p>\n<p>Zylka\u2019s lab also <a href=\"http:\/\/news.unchealthcare.org\/news\/2015\/August\/unc-scientists-pinpoint-how-a-single-genetic-mutation-increases-autism-risk\">figured out<\/a> how a particular kind of genetic mutation can increase the risk of autism. This work would have been impossible without Zylka having access to a collection of genetic information from the Simons Foundation, which funds some of Zylka\u2019s research. This compendium of genetic information \u2013 the Simons Simplex Collection \u2013 is only possible because families with a child with autism have gone beyond allowing their children to participate in research studies and allowed their children\u2019s genetic information to be used by researchers across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Through SPARK, Austin Ludwig\u2019s family is now part of this effort.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOnce researchers have all these sequences of parents and children, it will be huge in terms of research and coming up with potential treatments,\u201d Austin said. \u201cI\u2019m very excited about it. My parents and I are very excited to be a part of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Though Austin hopes his brother improves, learns to speak, and is able to overcome some of the more debilitating aspects of autism, he is focused on the simple steps he can take to help his brother no matter what.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI want to take this Chipping in for Autism non-profit to the next level,\u201d Austin said. His second golf tournament raised nearly $6,000. \u201cI hope pursuing a business degree helps. But I\u2019m open. I\u2019m not exactly sure what the future holds for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Except one thing: Mason. Austin wants Mason in his life.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf Mason stays as severe as he is now at age 11, then I want to make as much money as I can so he can live with me. I\u2019d have a professional assist with him so he can gain as much help as he needs and be a part of my life. I want my kids to be with him. He\u2019s my brother. I love him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><i>By Mark Derewicz, UNC Health Care \/ UNC School of Medicine<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><!-- description --> <\/p>\n<p class='lead'>UNC undergraduate Austin Ludwig works at the Carolina Institute for Developmental Disabilities to play a role in autism research he hopes will help millions of people, perhaps even his younger brother.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":70069,"featured_media":2873,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","odd"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Brotherly Love, No Matter What | UNC 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