Research Projects

Autism spectrum disorder (AsD) is a complex disease affecting communication, social interaction, and repetitive behavior. The biology behind these diseases is not fully understood, and the heterogeneity of the disease makes studying them complex. This proposal aims to understand the molecular mechanisms differences between AsD and epilepsy cases. The hypothesis is that brain insults affect translational differences due to RNA m6A methylation, which may provide a mechanistic view of the differences in molecular players in AsD and epilepsy. s-adenosylmethionine (sAM) is a universal methylation donor that regulates epigenetic and epitranscriptome modifications. m6A is a major epitranscriptome modification found across mRNA and regulates RNA stability, splicing, and translation. However, the impact of m6A RNA methylation on autism is not well understood. The study aims to study how sAM levels in AsD influence m6A levels on mRNA, providing valuable information on translation differences across AsD and epilepsy. The focus is on establishing m6A as a dynamic regulator of translation and understanding how sAM levels influence mRNA methylation patterns.