(Baltimore, MD)Kennedy Krieger Institute today announced the launch of the Interactive Autism Network (IAN) the first national online autism registry at www.IANproject.org. Parents are filled with questions about autism, and, unfortunately, researchers are still struggling with many of the same questions. IAN brings these two groups together in a way thats never been done before, through an online registry, to find answers.

Designed to drive autism research forward more quickly and efficiently, IAN will facilitate the exploration of causes, treatments and the search for a possible cure to this puzzling disorder. The Kennedy Krieger project is spearheaded by the husband and wife research team of Drs. Paul and Kiely Law, physicians by training and parents of a 13-year-old son with autism. The IAN project will link researchers to parents, the people who know the most about their child, in two important ways:

Data Collection - Parents of children with autism will be engaged online, providing valuable genealogical, environmental and treatment data without having to leave their home or office. By the end of the year, IANs goal is to have the largest pool of family-provided data on autism, enabling researchers to explore hypotheses and search for parallels among affected children in ways that have not been previously possible.

Research Recruitment - IAN will match parents of children with autism with local and national IRB-approved research studies for which they are uniquely qualified. Each year, many autism studies are not completed because scientists cannot find enough qualified participants in a timely manner. By facilitating the process of research recruitment, IAN aims to remove this stumbling block.

Parents are looking for a more direct way to get involved and speed up autism research, hoping for effective treatments and eventually a cure, said Dr. Paul Law, Director,
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Contact: Megan Gallivan
mgallivan@spectrumscience.com
202-955-6222
Kennedy Krieger Institute
2-Apr-2007