(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) -- Jacqueline Crawley, a neurobiologist and chief of the Laboratory of Behavioral Neuroscience of the Intramural Research Program, National Institute of Mental Health, will discuss the use of mice to model potential causes and treatments for autism during the next UC Davis MIND Institute distinguished lecture. The lecture will be held on Wednesday, March 10, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. in the institute auditorium, at 2825 50th St., Sacramento.

As candidate genes for autism spectrum disorders are identified, mice with targeted mutations in these genes are increasingly available. Mouse models offer useful tools to test hypotheses about genetic and epigenetic factors and other potential causes of autism, and to evaluate the therapeutic efficacy of novel treatments for autism.

Crawley’s laboratory develops mouse behavioral paradigms analogous to the diagnostic symptoms of autism. Her presentation will focus on behavioral tests for mice relevant to the defining symptoms of autism: deficits in reciprocal social interactions, deficits in communication and motor stereotypies/repetitive behaviors. She will also discuss insights gained from mouse behavioral assays for other symptoms that are often associated with autism, including anxiety, seizures, sleep disruption, mental retardation and overreaction to sensory stimuli. Crawley will also present preclinical results on drug treatments and behavioral interventions that reverse components of autism-relevant behavioral phenotypes in one mouse model of autism.

Crawley is the recipient of numerous honors and awards, including president of the International Behavioral Neuroscience Society, Mathilde Solowey Lecture Award in Neuroscience, Howard Hughes Medical Research Institute Preceptor Award, the Autism Awareness Day Keynote Award and president of the International Behavioural and Neural Genetics Society.  She is editor-in-chief of the journal Neuropeptides, serves on the editorial boards of 12 scientific journals and is the author of the widely used book, “What’s Wrong with My Mouse? Behavioral Phenotyping of Transgenic and Knockout Mice.”

All Distinguished Lecturer Series presentations are open to the public, with no reservations required. The MIND Institute Resource Center is open one hour before and 30 minutes after each presentation.

The UC Davis MIND Institute, in Sacramento, Calif., was founded in 1998 as a unique interdisciplinary research center where parents, community leaders, researchers, clinicians and volunteers collaborate to study and treat autism and other neurodevelopmental disorders. More information about the institute is available on the Web at http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/mindinstitute/.