Autism Rat Models Consortium — Request for Applications

Grants awarded through this request for applications (RFA) were intended to recharge and extend a consortium of researchers using rats as an experimental system to advance our understanding of the behavioral and circuit neuroscience mechanisms underlying autism and related neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD).

SFARI launched the Autism Rat Models Consortium (ARC) in 2022 with a group of researchers funded through the original Autism Rat Models Consortium RFA. These researchers are using rats generated with SFARI funding that carry mutations in high-confidence genes that in humans significantly increase the likelihood of developing autism and related NDD. These genes include FMR1, ARID1B, CHD8, CNTNAP2, DYRK1A, NRXN1, SCN2A and GRIN2B, and all lines are on the Long-Evans outbred genetic background (Charles River Laboratories). As part of the consortium, these same rat models are being evaluated through a comprehensive behavioral phenotyping pipeline established by the Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain (SIDB). Access to these models, as well the resulting data from the SIDB pipeline, are available to any qualified researcher.

ARC members have studied the behavior and neurophysiology underlying social interaction, sensory processing, navigation and learning and memory in these models, finding similarities across genes for some phenotypes as well as an interesting array of differences both across lines and within individuals of the same lines. Throughout this work, ARC members have shared methods, reagents and data within the consortium, leading to new insights and research directions in many cases.

SFARI later launched a new RFA to build upon the successes of the initial phase of ARC as well as to integrate new ideas and new researchers into the existing collaborative framework. As in the original RFA, awardees of this RFA work as a consortium to use these rat models to further our understanding of the behaviors and underlying neural circuits relevant to autism and related NDD.