[citation needed] The MIND Institute brings together experts in fields as diverse as molecular genetics and clinical pediatrics, using a multidisciplinary approach to treating and finding cures for neurodevelopmental disorders.
David G. Amaral is the research director of the MIND Institute and a professor in the Department of Psychiatry and the Center for Neuroscience, a neuroscientist who studies the organization of memory systems in the brain.
[5] The current consensus is that the rise in the number of autism cases is largely attributable to changes in diagnostic practices, referral patterns, availability of services, age at diagnosis, and public awareness,[6] though as-yet-unidentified contributing environmental risk factors cannot be ruled out.
[8] Published in the January 2009 issue of Epidemiology, results also suggest that research should shift from genetics to the host of chemicals and infectious microbes in the environment that are likely at the root of changes in the neurodevelopment of California's children.
The study will involve systematic analyses of immune systems, brain structures, genetics, environmental exposures, blood proteins and other developmental indicators, and the medical evaluations will continue for several years.