NEW YORK (GenomeWeb News) – Autism Speaks today announced a $3 million gift in support of its Autism Ten Thousand Genomes program (Aut10K) to sequence the world's largest collection of whole genomes of individuals with autism spectrum disorder and their families.
The gift is from the Gordon & Llura Gund Foundation and the Gordon & Llura Gund 93 Foundation. The funds will be distributed within a three-year time frame and will support the sequencing, data processing, and analysis of more than 3,000 genomes. The first $1 million will fund Autism Speaks' Aut10K "Expansion Phase," aimed at growing the sequence repository using the Autism Speaks Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) library, the organization said.
AGRE provides DNA, clinical, and medical information to researchers.
Bob Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks, said in a statement that with the gift, "the Aut10K project can embark on furthering its full genome sequencing collection leading to one of the largest assemblies of genomes."
Autism Speaks is a science and advocacy organization that funds research into the causes, prevention, treatments, and a cure for autism.