Autism Research Initiative (SFARI): Autism Rat Models Consortium

The ARC was established in 2022 following an RFA that funded investigators (see ARC 1.0, below) to use SFARI rat models with CRISPR/Cas9-induced loss of function of high-confidence autism risk genes to study behaviors and circuits relevant to autism. The SFARI rat models were generated at the Medical College of Wisconsin and are available to all researchers at minimal cost. Rats are larger than mice (making it more feasible to study early developmental time points), are more easily trained on complex behavioral tasks, and have a richer social behavior repertoire. The SFARI rat lines were also generated on an outbred genetic background, making it possible to study gene penetrance and individual variability. These rat lines are also being behaviorally characterized at the Simons Initiative for the Developing Brain (SIDB) in Edinburgh, Scotland. This year, SFARI held a second RFA which funded 8 projects involving 16 investigators. ARC members are working collaboratively to study the behavior and neurophysiology underlying social interaction (including play behavior), sensory processing, navigation, and learning & memory. The consortium holds regular meetings and shares data and protocols among members.

Benjamin Auerbach, Ph.D. (University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign)
Identifying convergent and divergent sensory phenotypes across genetically diverse rat models of ASD

Anne Churchland, Ph.D. (University of California, Los Angeles)
Coordinated, brain-wide changes underlying perceptual decision-making in autism rat models

Sandeep Robert Datta, M.D., Ph.D.(Harvard University), Paul Dudchenko, Ph.D. (University of Stirling), Adrien Peyrache, Ph.D. (McGill University) and Emma Wood, Ph.D. (University of Edinburgh)
Sensory integration and cognitive inflexibility in rat models of neurodevelopmental disorders

James Dooley, Ph.D. (Purdue University)
Changes in sleep and sensorimotor development in Fmr1 knockout rats

Loren Frank, Ph.D., Kevin Bender, Ph.D. and Nadav Ahituv, Ph.D. (University of California, San Francisco)
Understanding the cellular and circuit bases for behavioral impairments in the Scn2a knockout rat

Tim Hanks, Ph.D. (University of California, Davis)
The role of circuit-specific dopamine neuromodulation in autism-related behaviors

Margaret McCarthy, Ph.D. and Steffen Wolff, Ph.D. (University of Maryland, Baltimore)
The power of play: connecting SFARI-ASD gene disruption to synapses, circuits and neuronal activity during adolescent rat social behavior

Bence Ölveczky, Ph.D. (Harvard University), Ann Kennedy, Ph.D. (Scripps Research Institute) and Naoshige Uchida, Ph.D. (Harvard University)
Neural circuit mechanisms underlying social interactions in autism rat models

Ugne Klibaite, Ph.D. (Harvard University)
The emergence of social deficits in rat models of autism

Marino Pagan, Ph.D. (University of Edinburgh)
High-throughput dissection of the neural mechanisms underlying cognitive inflexibility in autism

Sandeep Robert Datta, M.D., Ph.D. (Harvard Medical School)
Developing rat MoSeq to characterize autism models

Paul Dudchenko, Ph.D. (University of Stirling) and Adrien Peyrache, Ph.D. (McGill University)
The cortical head direction system as a model for systems-level alterations in rat models of autism

Loren Frank, Ph.D., Kevin Bender, Ph.D. and David Kastner, Ph.D. (University of California, San Francisco)
Understanding the cellular and circuit bases for behavioral impairments in the Scn2a knock-out rat

Shantanu Jadhav, Ph.D. (Brandeis University)
Neural coordination mechanisms underlying social interactions in rat models of autism

Bence Ölveczky, Ph.D. (Harvard University) and Naoshige Uchida, Ph.D. (Harvard University)
Characterizing social impairments and the role of dopamine in autism rat models

Gina Turrigiano, Ph.D. (Brandeis University)
Critical period plasticity underlying complex learning in autism rat models

Davide Zoccolan, Ph.D. (Scuola Internazionale Superiore di Studi Avanzati)
Visual, perceptual and neurophysiological alterations in an Scn2a knockout rat model of autism