Ruth Cranston

• BSc (Hons) Human Genetics
• Expression of autism susceptibility genes in the earliest stages of human cerebral cortex development

Investigation of the rostro-caudal expression gradients of autism susceptibility disorder (ASD) genes as observed in microarray results obtained by another research group. A subset of ASD genes were selected using the genotator database and using pubmed to gather developmental information the list was reduced to four genes that are strongly implicated in ASD.Primers were designed for each specific gene using Primer-BLAST. The relative expression of each gene was mapped by carrying out polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and gel electrophoresis using rostral and caudal cDNA samples from fetal samples aged 8PCW (post-conception weeks) and 11PCW.

Funding source: Newcastle University