• Autism
  • About Us
  • Ways to Give
    • Participate
      • Toys R Us Canada Play packs
      • World Autism Month
        • Meet Ileana
        • Meet Lindsay
        • Meet Mackenna
        • Meet Daud
        • Meet Griffin
        • Meet Dr. Catherine G.
        • Meet Wanda Deschamps
        • Meet Jackie McMillan
        • Meet Steven Atme
        • Meet Jack Baranoff
        • Meet Olivier St-Amour
      • Autism Speaks Canada Walk
        • marchons
        • Current and Past Ambassadors
      • Autism Speaks Canada bubly Smile Day
      • Autism Speaks Canada Virtual Dog Walk & Auction
      • Game On with Autism Speaks Canada
      • Giving Tuesday
      • Facebook Fundraisers
      • Fundraise Your Way
      • Team Up!
      • One-Time Gifts
      • Monthly Giving
      • Honour Someone Special
      • Support an Event Participant
      • Birthdays with Echoage
      • Estate and Tax Smart Giving
      • Donate a Car
    • Become a Partner
      • Meet Our Partners
        • Gifted Canada
        • Vancouver Foundation
        • McConnell Foundation
        • Azrieli Foundation
        • Scentsy Canada
        • Samsung Canada
        • Randstad
        • Metrocon Ready Mix Corp.
        • PepsiCo
        • dentalcorp
        • Cadillac Fairview
        • Cherry Hill
        • ToysRUs/BabiesRUs
        • Equitable Life of Canada
        • KRG
        • Cineplex
        • Kernels
        • NFP
        • Bank of Montreal
        • A Buyer's Choice
        • Echoage
        • Donate a Car
        • Canadian Heritage - Government of Canada
        • Globe Meats Fresh Market and Grill
        • Nutrience
      • Cash and In-Kind Donations
      • Cause Related Marketing
      • Corporate Teams
      • Event Hosting
      • Matching Gifts
      • Sponsorship
      • Corporate Volunteering
      • Workplace Giving
    • Volunteer
      • Volunteer Stories
    • Merchandise
  • Science, Services & Supports
    • Pandemic Canadian Autism Needs Assessment Results
    • COVID-19 Information and Resources by our Autism Response Team
      • Families & Caregivers Looking for Children Resources
      • Adults on the Spectrum Looking for Resources
      • Virtual Events for Everyone
      • Other Useful Links for Everyone
      • Surveys
    • Science
      • Science News
      • Grant Search
      • Apply for Grants or Fellowships
      • MSSNG
      • Autism Treatment Network
        • ATN@Work
      • Participate In Research
        • Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship in Developmental Pathways in Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)
        • Caring for the Caregiver
        • Kids Brain Health Network
        • Family Participation in Research
        • It Takes Brains
        • Interactive Autism Network
        • Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital
        • University of Toronto
        • York University
      • Science Blogs
      • Science Digest
        • Spring 2018
    • Family Services
      • Family Services Community Grants
        • FSCG Grant Review Volunteers
      • Family Services Special Targeted Initiatives Grants
        • Pacific Autism Family Network (PAFN)
        • Integrated Services for Autism & Neurodevelopmental Disorders (ISAND)
      • Family Services Partnerships
        • Family Services Community Grants
        • Tablet Program
        • Sensory Friendly Screenings
        • Sensory Friendly Santa – Enjoy a Virtual Visit with Santa!
      • Worktopia
    • Resources
      • Apps
      • Technology Central
      • Going Out to Eat
      • Health & Wellness
      • Bullying
      • Wandering
      • Templates for Personalized Teaching Stories
      • Community Connections
      • My Job Chart
      • Resource Library
      • Glossary of Terms
      • Accessing Government Services
      • Your Religious Community
    • ASC Connect
  • News, Media Request & Contact Us
    • News
      • News
        • Autism Speaks Canada's statement about the Alek Minassian case and its misrepresentation of autism
        • ASC, CASDA, and MacART come together to present the Pandemic Canadian Autism Needs Assessment Survey Report
        • SickKids researchers find new genes and variations linked to autism using Autism Speaks' MSSNG data
        • Toys R Us Canada in partnership with Autism Speaks Canada is proud to launch discounted play packs
        • Olivier, Our Dog Walk Ambassador Is in the News
        • Covid-19, We Are in This Together
        • Advocates and researchers discuss solutions to reduce autism health care disparities
        • Justin Trudeau Announces Endorsement for Development of a National Autism Strategy
        • Join Us in Creating a Brighter Life on the Spectrum
        • Media Advisory: Trudeau Is Only Major Party Leader Not Committed To A National Autism Strategy
        • Large family-based study finds 80 percent of autism risk is from inherited genes
        • Autism Speaks Canada is excited to announce their new partnership with MKM group and Shattered Dreams Esports
        • Autism Speaks awards more than $4.7 million for autism research
        • Autism Speaks Canada is excited to announce their new partnership with bubly sparkling water beverage
        • Six Autism Speaks studies on 2018 list of top advances in autism
        • Senator Munson's Visit to McMaster May 21, 2019
        • Community Connections Inspire Samsung Canada and Autism Speaks Canada
        • Autism Speaks Canada's annual Walk comes to Waterloo this Sunday
        • Autism Speaks Canada's annual Walk comes to Toronto
        • Autism Speaks' MSSNG project reaches 10,000-genome milestone
        • The Canada Council for the Arts Reveals the 2019 Killam Program Winners
        • Light It up Blue With Autism Speaks Canada
        • Response to the Ontario Autism Program (OAP)
        • DNAstack and Autism Speaks® Announce Collaboration to Accelerate Scientific Discovery on One of the World's Largest Autism Genome Databases
        • Autism Speaks launches $1.5 million funding opportunity for treatment studies
        • Whole genome sequencing reveals new type of genetic influence on autism
        • Understanding the 2018 National Autism Spectrum Disorder Surveillance System (NASS) Report
        • Autism Speaks releases new strategic plan for science
        • World's largest autism genome databank adds more than 2,000 sequences
        • Support Rooted in Desire to Improve Lives
        • Samsung Canada, Silken Laumann and Autism Speaks Canada Invite Canadians to Learn the Love Spectrum
        • Your ATN@Work: Treating anxiety in children and teens with autism
        • Your ATN@Work: Recognizing anxiety in children and teens with autism
        • Expanding Service Options for Children and Youth with Autism
        • Tracing autism's trajectories could help explain its diversity
        • Gathering MSSNG Insights on Autism
        • Thomas Frazier to join Autism Speaks as Chief Science Officer
        • Study Aims to Crack Autism Code
        • Ontario Ombudsman has released the report, Nowhere to Turn
        • The Autism World: Choosing In
        • The Government of Canada wants your input as they develop accessibility legislation
        • The University of Windsor is looking for fathers across Canada
        • Autism Speaks MSSNG study expands understanding of autism's complex genetics.
        • Choices Markets to Host Fundraiser to Raise Awareness and Funds for Autism Speaks Canada
        • The Sinneave Family Foundation and Autism Speaks Canada Partner With Organizations Across Canada to Improve Employment Futures for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder
        • Ontario Providing More Supports For Children With Autism
        • Autism Speaks ATN/AIR-P researchers present studies at IMFAR
        • More than 5,000 whole genome sequences now available for research into autism subtypes and personalized treatments
        • Spokesperson for the Minister answers FAQ's regarding Ontario Autism Program
        • Giving children roots and wings: the struggle to understand autism.
        • Information for families about changes to autism services for children & youth
        • Ontario Budget Announcement
        • Ontario government announces new Ontario Autism Program with investment of $333 million over the next five years
        • 'Aging Out': What happens when children with ASD get older?
        • PBS NewsHour Looks at MSSNG Genome Project
        • New Canada-U.S. Partnership Paves the Way for International Collaborations in Autism Research
        • Autism Speaks Launches MSSNG Portal for Open-Access Genomics Research
        • Choices Markets to Host Fundraiser to Raise Awareness and Funds for Autism Speaks Canada
        • Kinetic Sand Teams Up with Autism Speaks to Raise Awareness
        • Learning to better understand autism spectrum disorder
        • 2014 Family Services Community Grants Announcement
        • Cineplex and Autism Speaks to offer Sensory Friendly Screenings
        • Diversity in Developmental Trajectories in Kids with Autism Spectrum Disorder
        • Largest genome sequencing study finds surprises: siblings' autism may have different genetic causes
COVID-19 Information and Resources
  • EN
    • FR
  • A A
  • Accessibility
  • Donate Now
 
Autism Speaks EN Autism Speaks EN
  • Autism
  • About Us
  • Ways to Give
  • Science, Services & Supports
  • News, Media Request & Contact Us
  1. Home
  2. News, Media Request & Contact Us
  3. News
  4. News
  5. New Canada-U.S. Partnership Paves the Way for International Collaborations in Autism Research
  • News
    • Autism Speaks Canada's statement about the Alek Minassian case and its misrepresentation of autism
    • ASC, CASDA, and MacART come together to present the Pandemic Canadian Autism Needs Assessment Survey Report
    • SickKids researchers find new genes and variations linked to autism using Autism Speaks' MSSNG data
    • Toys R Us Canada in partnership with Autism Speaks Canada is proud to launch discounted play packs
    • Olivier, Our Dog Walk Ambassador Is in the News
    • Covid-19, We Are in This Together
    • Advocates and researchers discuss solutions to reduce autism health care disparities
    • Justin Trudeau Announces Endorsement for Development of a National Autism Strategy
    • Join Us in Creating a Brighter Life on the Spectrum
    • Media Advisory: Trudeau Is Only Major Party Leader Not Committed To A National Autism Strategy
    • Large family-based study finds 80 percent of autism risk is from inherited genes
    • Autism Speaks Canada is excited to announce their new partnership with MKM group and Shattered Dreams Esports
    • Autism Speaks awards more than $4.7 million for autism research
    • Autism Speaks Canada is excited to announce their new partnership with bubly sparkling water beverage
    • Six Autism Speaks studies on 2018 list of top advances in autism
    • Senator Munson's Visit to McMaster May 21, 2019
    • Community Connections Inspire Samsung Canada and Autism Speaks Canada
    • Autism Speaks Canada's annual Walk comes to Waterloo this Sunday
    • Autism Speaks Canada's annual Walk comes to Toronto
    • Autism Speaks' MSSNG project reaches 10,000-genome milestone
    • The Canada Council for the Arts Reveals the 2019 Killam Program Winners
    • Light It up Blue With Autism Speaks Canada
    • Response to the Ontario Autism Program (OAP)
    • DNAstack and Autism Speaks® Announce Collaboration to Accelerate Scientific Discovery on One of the World's Largest Autism Genome Databases
    • Autism Speaks launches $1.5 million funding opportunity for treatment studies
    • Whole genome sequencing reveals new type of genetic influence on autism
    • Understanding the 2018 National Autism Spectrum Disorder Surveillance System (NASS) Report
    • Autism Speaks releases new strategic plan for science
    • World's largest autism genome databank adds more than 2,000 sequences
    • Support Rooted in Desire to Improve Lives
    • Samsung Canada, Silken Laumann and Autism Speaks Canada Invite Canadians to Learn the Love Spectrum
    • Your ATN@Work: Treating anxiety in children and teens with autism
    • Your ATN@Work: Recognizing anxiety in children and teens with autism
    • Expanding Service Options for Children and Youth with Autism
    • Tracing autism's trajectories could help explain its diversity
    • Gathering MSSNG Insights on Autism
    • Thomas Frazier to join Autism Speaks as Chief Science Officer
    • Study Aims to Crack Autism Code
    • Ontario Ombudsman has released the report, Nowhere to Turn
    • The Autism World: Choosing In
    • The Government of Canada wants your input as they develop accessibility legislation
    • The University of Windsor is looking for fathers across Canada
    • Autism Speaks MSSNG study expands understanding of autism's complex genetics.
    • Choices Markets to Host Fundraiser to Raise Awareness and Funds for Autism Speaks Canada
    • The Sinneave Family Foundation and Autism Speaks Canada Partner With Organizations Across Canada to Improve Employment Futures for Individuals With Autism Spectrum Disorder
    • Ontario Providing More Supports For Children With Autism
    • Autism Speaks ATN/AIR-P researchers present studies at IMFAR
    • More than 5,000 whole genome sequences now available for research into autism subtypes and personalized treatments
    • Spokesperson for the Minister answers FAQ's regarding Ontario Autism Program
    • Giving children roots and wings: the struggle to understand autism.

Donate Landing photo

COVID-19 Information and Resources

New Canada-U.S. Partnership Paves the Way for International Collaborations in Autism Research

Toronto, September 16, 2015 – Canada’s Ontario Brain Institute (OBI) and the U.S.’ National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) are linking up their big data initiatives to promote sharing and drive autism spectrum disorder (ASD) research forward.

ASD affects over 3 million individuals in the U.S. and tens of millions worldwide. Beginning early in childhood, ASD affects an individual’s ability to think, learn, interact socially, and live independently. Researchers know that there is no one cause for ASD but rather a combination of factors including genetic risk and environmental stressors may come into play. The heterogeneity in the way the disorder presents itself makes it difficult to treat and complicated to study. For these reasons, today’s ASD researchers come from a wide-range of science and medical backgrounds and they are interested in looking at broad collections of data ranging from brain imaging to behavioural assessments.

OBI’s Province of Ontario Neurodevelopmental Disorders (POND) Network involves over 39 core researchers at multiple academic and clinical sites studying ASD as well as other neurodevelopmental disorders including: attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, obsessive compulsive disorder, Intellectual disability, Rett, Tourette, fragile X, and Down syndrome. Through this unique program, researchers in the POND Network share their data on OBI’s advanced data and analytics platform, the Brain Centre for Ontario Data Exploration (Brain-CODE). The platform allows researchers to share, manage, and analyze their data in an ultra-secure space that enables them to ask never-before-possible questions of their data and that of their peers.

Brain-CODE has the ability to link to other secure databases anywhere in the world. Today, the Ontario Brain Institute and the National Institute of Mental Health announce their new partnership to link their powerful databases leading to new possibilities for global collaborations in ASD research.

The National Database for Autism Research (NDAR) seeks to facilitate data sharing and scientific collaboration on a broad scale, providing a shared common platform for autism researchers. NDAR integrates and standardizes data, tools, and computational techniques across multiple public and private autism databases. NDAR is supported by the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), of which NIMH is a component.

The two-way linkage will leverage the potential of existing data and provides Canada and U.S.-based researchers with a whole new set of possibilities.

“Sharing data has become critical to understanding complex heterogeneous disorders such as ASD. No group alone has large enough sample sizes to examine and interpret such heterogeneity. By combining resources, we significantly increase our chances to both understand the different underlying biologies and to translate such discoveries into novel treatments,” explains Evdokia Anagnostou, MD, POND Principal Investigator, in the Bloorview Research Institute at Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital.

This initial linkage is likely to pave the way for others to come “the NIH holds a strong vision of partnership and collaboration much like OBI does. We are confident that this unique linkage between NDAR and Brain-CODE will prompt future collaborations in other areas of brain research with NIH and other global leaders in health research,” says Dr. Donald Stuss, President and Scientific Director, Ontario Brain Institute.

“OBI and NDAR share the same goal of making a variety of data types readily available for scientists to mine. Federating these two platforms is a natural and welcome next step, building on the work of both,” says Greg Farber, Director of the Office of Technology Development and Coordination, National Institute of Mental Health. 

“Open access to data from many people and many studies is paramount in ASD research because of the tremendous range of symptom type and severity among those affected,” says Dr. Thomas Insel, Director of the National Institute of Mental Health. “This new link between repositories will further leverage the resources of both NDAR and OBI and enlarge the already rich well of data from which researchers can draw to address autism and other disorders.”

“Autism Speaks is partners with both Ontario Brain Institute and NIMH and applauds this collaborative initiative to increase supports for the ASD research community. We value the significance of crossborder partnerships as vital to accelerating advancements in ASD knowledge.” Jill Farber, Executive Director, Autism Speaks Canada.

“Ontario supports collaborative partnerships that nurture scientific discoveries and have the potential to change lives. Working together and sharing secure big data will drive research at OBI and NIMH forward in ways we could not have imagined a couple of years ago. This research will help people with ASD while bringing comfort to their families and is another example of how our investments are bringing tangible benefits to Ontarians and people around the world.” Reza Moridi, Minister of Research and Innovation

About the Ontario Brain Institute

The Ontario Brain Institute is a provincially?funded, not?for?profit research centre seeking to maximize the impact of neuroscience and establish Ontario as a world leader in brain research, commercialization and care. We create convergent partnerships between researchers, clinicians, industry, patients, and their advocates to foster discovery and deliver innovative products and services that improve the lives of those living with brain disorders.

About the National Institute of Mental Health

The mission of the NIMH is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery and cure. NIMH is part of the National Institutes of Health, a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary U.S. agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases.

Media contact

Michelle Wilson
Senior Program Lead, Communications
Ontario Brain Institute
Tel.: (647) 872-1215
mwilson@braininstitute.ca
www.braininstitute.ca

Contact Us
  • 2450 Victoria Park Avenue, Unit 400
    Toronto, ON M2J 4A2
  • Local: 416-362-6227
  • Toll Free: 1-888-362-6227
  • Fax: 416-362-6228
  • About
  • ASC Connect
  • Get Involved
  • Science, Services & Resources
  • Ways to Give
  • News
  • Media Request & Contact Us
Our Partners
Nutrience
Globe Meats Fresh Market and Grill
Canadian Heritage - Government of Canada
Donate a Car
Echoage
A Buyer's Choice
Bank of Montreal
NFP
Kernels
Cineplex
KRG
Equitable Life of Canada
ToysRUs/BabiesRUs
Cherry Hill
Cadillac Fairview
dentalcorp
PepsiCo
Metrocon Ready Mix Corp.
Randstad
Samsung Canada
  • © 2021 Autism Speaks Canada
  • Site Map
  • Privacy Policy