Partnerships for Environmental Public Health (PEPH)
Autism and the Environment
March 22, 2024
Interviewee: Staci Bilbo, Ph.D.
In this episode, we’ll hear from NIEHS-funded researcher Staci Bilbo, Ph.D., who studies how environmental exposures and stress, especially during early development in the womb, influence children’s brain and behavioral development.
Autism and the Environment
Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental condition that affects the way people communicate, learn, behave, or interact with others. Today, approximately 1 in 36 children in the U.S. are diagnosed with autism. Scientists recognize that the combination of a person’s genes and environment contributes to their risk of developing the disorder.
In this episode, we’ll hear from NIEHS-funded researcher Staci Bilbo, Ph.D., who studies how environmental exposures and stress, especially during early development in the womb, influence children’s brain and behavioral development.
Interviewee
Staci Bilbo, Ph.D., is a neuroimmunologist and the Haley Family Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience at Duke University. Her research focuses on how environmental exposures during the perinatal period impact the immune system to influence brain development, cognition, and behaviors later in life. Bilbo is also interested in how the combination of social and environmental factors – such as poverty and air pollution – impact the developing brain. She hopes findings from her research can help inform decisions to mitigate the social and environmental factors that may harm brain development and lead to ASD.
Resources
- Check out the CDC’s webpage to learn more about ASD, including information on screening, diagnosis, and therapies.
- Learn more about Bilbo’s autism research in a 2022 news article from NIEHS.
- Visit the NIEHS webpage to learn more about autism and the environment.
References
- Smith CJ, Rendina DN, Kingsbury MA, Malacon KE, Nguyen DM, Tran JJ, Devlin BA, Raju RM, Clark MJ, Burgett L, Zhang JH, Cetinbas M, Sadreyev RI, Chen K, Iyer MS, Bilbo SD. 2023. Microbial modulation via cross-fostering prevents the effects of pervasive environmental stressors on microglia and social behavior, but not the dopamine system. Mol Psychiatry 28(6):2549-2562. [Full Text]
- Block CL, Eroglu O, Mague SD, Smith CJ, Ceasrine AM, Sriworarat C, Blount C, Beben KA, Malacon KE, Ndubuizu N, Talbot A, Gallagher NM, Chan Jo Y, Nyangacha T, Carlson DE, Dzirasa K, Eroglu C, Bilbo SD. 2022. Prenatal environmental stressors impair postnatal microglia function and adult behavior in males. Cell Rep 40(5):111161. [Full Text]