Q&A: HOW DO GENES AND ENVIRONMENT SHAPE THE PROBABILITY OF AUTISM?

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va., Aug. 28 -- The University of Virginia issued the following news release:

Researchers from the University of Virginia and Johns Hopkins University have developed a new tool that will help scientists better understand how genetic conditions like autism spectrum disorder pass between parents and children.

Ziqiao Wang, an assistant professor of genome sciences in the UVA School of Medicine, is developing statistical methods that seek to define the interplay between genes and the environment. Collaborating with Nilanjan Chatterjee and colleagues at Johns Hopkins University, she created a tool called PGS-TRI.

Wang spoke with UVA Today about her latest findings, published in Nature Genetics, and what is most important for ...