Professor Simon Baron-Cohen

Simon Baron-Cohen

University position

Professor

Professor Simon Baron-Cohen is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students.

Departments

Department of Experimental Psychology and Department of Psychiatry

Institutes

Autism Research Centre

Email

sb205@cam.ac.uk

Home page

http://www.autismresearchcentre.com

Research Themes

Developmental Neuroscience

Cognitive and Behavioural Neuroscience

Interests

The Autism Research Centre (ARC), of which I am Director, has 6 programs of research, all focusing on Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASC):

(a) Perception and Cognition (investigating social and non-social cognition and sensory processing);

(b) Neuroscience (using fMRI, DTI, ERP, neuropathology, and TMS);

(c) Genetics and Proteomics (conducting candidate gene association studies, full genome pooled association studies, and mass spectrometry);

(d) Hormones (testing the role of foetal testosterone in typical sexual neural dimorphism and as a causal factor for ASC) ;

(e) Screening and Diagnosis (evaluating screening instruments in infancy and childhood); and

(f) Intervention (conducting 'treatment'-trials).

These are described on the Autism Research Centre website (please see side panel for link).

Support comes from the MRC, The Big Lottery, the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation, and Target Autism Genome, among other sources.

Foetus at 15 weeks of age: The Autism Research Centre is measuring foetal testosterone (FT) and following up these infants after birth to test if FT levels predict autism
Foetus at 15 weeks of age: The Autism Research Centre is measuring foetal testosterone (FT) and following up these infants after birth to test if FT levels predict autism
Click image to view full-size

Research Focus

Keywords

Autism

Asperger Syndrome

Social Neuroscience

Neuroendocrine

Psychiatry

Clinical conditions

Asperger Syndrome

Autism

Childhood disorders

Cognitive impairment

Hormonal disorders

Equipment

Behavioural analysis

Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI)

Electrophysiological recording techniques

Epidemiology

Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)

Neuropsychological testing

Post-mortem neuropathology

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS)

Collaborators

Cambridge

Sabine Bahn

Carol Brayne

Ed Bullmore

Andrew Dean

Frank Dudbridge

Ieuan Hughes

Rick Livesey

United Kingdom

Ian Craig Web: http://www.iop.kcl.ac.uk/

Key publications

Chakrabarti B, Kent L, Suckling J, Bullmore E, Baron-Cohen S (2006), “Variations in the human cannabinoid receptor (CNR1) gene modulate striatal response to happy faces” European Journal of Neuroscience 23:1944-1948 Details

Baron-Cohen S, Knickmeyer RC, Belmonte MK (2005), “Sex differences in the brain: implications for explaining autism.” Science 310(5749):819-23 Details

Welchew D, Ashwin C, Berkouk K, Salvador R, Suckling J, Baron-Cohen S, Bullmore E (2005), “Functional dysconnectivity of the medial temporal lobe in autism” Biological Psychiatry 57:991-998 Details