$9 million grant to establish open-access autism database at Stanford | News Center | Stanford Medicine

"Dennis Wall, PhD, an autism researcher at the School of Medicine, is leading a new project to establish the largest-ever collaborative, open-access repository of bioinformatic data on autism. The Hartwell Autism Research and Technology Initiative, known as iHART, will provide the scientific community with a centralized repository of data to benefit biomedical research on autism and help children affected with the developmental disorder, which hinders social and communication skills. It is funded by a $9 million grant from the Hartwell Foundation, a charitable organization whose mission is to support early-stage biomedical research projects that improve the health and well-being of children in the United States. Wall, an associate professor of systems medicine in the Department of Pediatrics, will direct the iHART cloud-based computing and communications technology platform. The initiative seeks to assemble a comprehensive scientific repository of data on autism spectrum disorder through collaboration with researchers. The bioinformatics effort will deploy state-of-the-art computational tools of systems biology, machine learning and inference algorithms to inspire users to exploit the full potential of available data related to autism ..."