A Clearer Image of Autism

Carnegie Mellon has long been a leader in the areas of brain science, psychology and learning research. The university's Brain, Mind and Learning Initiative (now part of the Neuroscience Institute) helped the university become an even more prominent player in these fields. Research by professor Marcel Just offers an explanation for some of autism's mysteries, giving scientists clear targets for developing intervention and treatment therapies.

In 2012, Temple Grandin, a leading advocate of humane livestock treatment and autism awareness, chose to work with Just and the Carnegie Mellon Center for Cognitive Brain Imaging to perform brain imaging for a Discovery Channel special. The scans helped illuminate how Grandin’s autistic brain functions, allowing her to triumph over childhood autism and become a leading voice for animal welfare as an author, professor and inventor.

“This gave us the opportunity to create MRI-based images of all of her brain's white matter, which is 40% of her brain, to assess connectivity in autism,” said Just. "It was just enough to initiate a scientific study involving many tens of people from which conclusions can be drawn."