RMIT experts will contribute to MICRO-NEST, a €6 million ($9.8 million) Horizon Europe project applying innovative approaches to identify markers of autism in children born before 37 weeks of gestation.
A research collaboration spanning Europe and Australia will develop new guidelines and a first-of-its-kind AI-enabled digital twin to improve the diagnosis and support for autism in children born preterm.
Being born preterm is a disruptive early-life event, and this under-researched population of children is three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism due to the combined impacts on brain development.
Professor Elisa Hill and Associate Professor Bobbi Fleiss from RMIT's School of Health and Biomedical Sciences will investigate links between genes and factors in the environment, such as being exposed to an inflammatory (sickness) response in early life, in the development of autism.
"Our work in MICRO-NEST will generate new knowledge about the processes that drive changes in how the gut, immune system, microbiome and brain interact in autism," said Hill, an expert in gut development and function in models of autism.
"We will study the gut, microbiome and brain to look for the development of autistic-like traits in mice."
Hill said that many autistic people, particularly those with profound autism and high support needs, live with gastrointestinal symptoms together with an imbalance in the gut microbiome.
This has been suggested to impact behaviour and day-to-day living, making gut issues a priority for investigating potential therapies.
Associate Professor Jessica Holien from RMIT's School of Science will lead the use of machine learning computational methods on data collected from thousands of babies born preterm with autism as well as mouse models.
This work aims to assess and prioritise therapeutic targets for developing drugs to relieve symptoms associated with autism that impact quality of life, in particular for people with profound autism.
"We will identify and evaluate safe therapeutic candidates for real translational potential, prioritising those which could have the biggest benefit to autistic people who are interested in therapies," said Holien.
