Hospital for Sick Children

Autism Speaks, the world's leading autism science and advocacy organization, today launched the web-based portal for its MSSNG database, making the resource available to researchers worldwide. The MSSNG portal enables qualified scientists to access, study and share findings on detailed genomic information from people with autism spectrum disorder and their family members. Announced in December 2014, the MSSNG project (pronounced "missing") is a significant milestone in advancing autism research. MSSNG aims to sequence the complete genomes of 10,000 individuals affected by autism and their families by early 2016 - an unprecedented undertaking that provides the global autism research community with an open resource to answer some of the most vexing questions about the disorder. This could lead to breakthroughs in identifying the causes and subtypes of autism, as well as advancing the diagnosis and personalized treatment of the disorder.