As NIH launches new autism research effort, the focus is on environmental factors Scientists believe factors like diet and chemical exposure could play a role in a condition largely driven by genetics

https://www.statnews.com/2025/10/03/nih-autism-data-science-initiative-scientists-excited-exposomics/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-_nRnXt-of5sV29yLYJ6IDGdHYSofi7SgfJcMQ_3Jl8kVHdcvCC8VH5_DzDIz_t1dD_uoPwPgrrGSWXKSiIM2YLGFnFjQ&_hsmi=383460434&utm_content=383460434&utm_source=hs_email Last week, the National Institutes of Health announced the 13 teams of researchers who will receive money to study autism. The projects are diverse in scope, but the trendline is impossible to ignore: the federal government is doubling down on environment exposures as the way to understand why some people have autism. There is growing recognition in the scientific community that environmental factors during pregnancy can influence whether a child is diagnosed with autism, even though the condition is seen to be mostly genetic. They even have a fancy word for focusing on the seemingly infinite environmental forces that can affect you: the exposome. Lots more about the exposome and the grants getting funded in my story, but here’s a taste from autism researcher Craig Newschaffer about the possibilities and perils of trying to measure environmental exposures. “DNA, RNA protein, we kind of know what it is. On the exposome side, what is it that we're measuring?” said Newschaffer, who did not submit a proposal for the new NIH initiative. “Human beings are not exposed to one thing at a time. We live out here in the soup we call nature, and are exposed to many things simultaneously.”