Conférence Brain development and disorders - La Ciotat - 5-8 septembre 2014

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE

Recent years have seen a considerable advance in our understanding of autism and related disorders (Fragile X syndrome, Tuberous Sclerosis, Rett). Yet, there are considerable gaps between experimental and clinical observations and there is little conceptual understanding of how and when does the brain deviate from its developmental program. This raises the highly clinically relevant issue of the fate of neuronal ensembles that have not respected their assigned duties and ended misplaced and/or misconnected. To understand and treat autism, we also need to better understand the relations between the family of autistic disorders and disorders with autistic features. In parallel, behavioural approaches have also been suggested to reduce the severity of the disorder and several clinical trials are presently being conducted. This EMBO Conference brings together leading experts from the entire spectrum of this disorder (basic science, clinical science, psychological tests, clinical trials) and particularly the developmental aspects to compare our observations and elaborate a scenario as to the most likely events occurring at early developmental stages and how to treat them.