Sandra Carson

We identify the risk of developing Maternal Autoantibody Related Autism (MARA), a subtype of autism that is estimated to represent approximately 20% of overall cases, through a new type of risk assessment test for prospective mothers prior to (but not during) pregnancy, and for mothers during the early postnatal period. Our goal is to provide families with options to materially reduce the occurrence or severity of MARA. Our precision technology uses a blood test in women to identify the presence of a distinct cluster of autoantibodies that lead to MARA, thereby enabling the earliest risk assessment for the development of autism in a child.