Rachel Greene, a Clinical Psychology graduate student, is a recipient of the 2015 Autism Science Foundation Accelerator Grant.
The Autism Science Foundation offers Research Accelerator Grants to expand the scope, increase the efficiency, and improve the final product dissemination of active autism research grants. These grants are available to enhance, expand, or enrich currently-funded grants.
Rachel won for her project, “The Role of Oxytocin Treatment on Brain Connectivity in Autism.” The ASF Accelerator Grant will allow Rachel to build on fMRI data already collected to understand how ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens connect with other parts of the brain during tasks involving social and monetary reward, and how oxytocin affects these functional connections. This project will reveal the potential mechanisms of action of a novel Austim Spectrum Disorder (ASD) therapeutic agent and provide a new neural target by which to evaluate future promising ASD treatments.