Autism test on the horizon as Stemina Biomarker screens for the disorder

Autism test on the horizon as Stemina Biomarker screens for the disorder

By David Tenenbaum, UW-Madison

Elizabeth-DonleyA University of Wisconsin—Madison spinoff is screening blood samples in an effort to develop a biologically based method to diagnose autism.

The company, Stemina Biomarker Discovery, specializes in detecting the byproducts of cellular activity and then applying high-powered statistics to detect patterns among thousands of metabolites.

In August 2015, Stemina received $2.7 million from the National Institute of Mental Health to support its clinical study, the Children’s Autism Metabolome Project (CAMP).

“Metabolome” refers to research on the compounds produced by cellular activity, or metabolism.

The CAMP study aims to validate markers of autism in the blood of 1,500 children aged 18 to 48 months. Previously, Stemina found six potential metabolic subtypes that described slightly more than 50 percent of the subjects.

Early diagnosis for autism can allow quicker, better treatment. In the best case, it could pinpoint drug or dietary measures to reduce the symptoms or even prevent the condition. Read more …