2025 Associates Meeting - Posters

A study of 29 children aged 5-12 investigated how brain structure relates to internalizing symptoms such as anxiety and depression, with a particular focus on sex differences. Using structural MRI analysis, researchers examined cortical volume, thickness, surface area, and folding patterns and found significant sex-specific associations. Males with higher internalizing symptoms showed reduced volume in the pericalcarine cortex and lingual gyrus—brain regions critical for visual processing and attention—while females did not show these patterns. Additionally, altered cortical folding in the supramarginal gyrus was associated with internalizing symptoms in males. These findings suggest that structural differences in brain regions involved in visual processing, attention, and emotion regulation may contribute differently to internalizing symptoms in boys versus girls, highlighting the importance of considering sex differences when studying childhood anxiety and depression.

Valentino Cheek <karim.ibrahim@yale.edu>

A large-scale study of 9,057 adolescents examined how difficulties with emotion regulation relate to mental health symptoms and adverse childhood experiences. Researchers analyzed data from 12-13 year-olds in the Adolescent Brain Cognitive Development Study to understand whether overall emotion dysregulation and specific regulation strategies—such as reappraisal (reinterpreting situations) and suppression (hiding emotions)—were linked to attention problems, disruptive behaviors, and internalizing issues like anxiety and depression. The findings revealed that emotion dysregulation was associated with greater symptom severity across all three problem areas. Importantly, using suppression as a coping strategy was linked to more severe symptoms, while reappraisal was not. The study also found that emotion regulation difficulties mediate the relationship between family conflict and mental health symptoms—meaning that children who experienced greater family conflict had more trouble regulating their emotions, which in turn predicted worse symptoms. These findings suggest that targeting emotion regulation skills could be an important approach for helping youth who have experienced adversity build resilience and improve mental health outcomes.

Zhiyuan Liu <zhouyan.liu@yale.edu>

A study of 205 autistic and 91 non-autistic children examined how the brain processes biological motion, with particular focus on how gravity affects movement perception. Using EEG recordings while children watched point-light walker videos, researchers analyzed brain activity patterns for vertical motion (affected by gravity) versus horizontal motion. The findings revealed that autistic children, unlike their non-autistic peers, did not show selective engagement of predictive brain mechanisms when processing vertical movement dynamics in biological motion. This suggests that atypical engagement of neural mechanisms tuned to predict the consequences of gravity may underlie perceptual differences in autism. The research implicates the vestibular system as a potential target for diagnostic biomarkers and intervention strategies aimed at improving social communication and real-world movement interpretation.

Jacob Momsen <jacob.momsen@yale.edu>

This study examined aperiodic brain activity patterns in resting-state EEG to determine whether they could distinguish between clinical and non-clinical groups. Researchers recorded EEG data from 59 adults with autism, 42 with schizophrenia or psychosis, and 61 individuals with no neuropsychiatric conditions while their eyes were closed for 80 seconds. By calculating the slope of power spectrum densities—the rate of decay in brain activity across frequencies—they found significant differences between groups. Participants without neuropsychiatric conditions showed significantly steeper slopes (more negative decay) compared to both the autism and schizophrenia groups, though no difference was detected between the two clinical groups. Interestingly, these slope patterns were not correlated with clinical symptom severity in either condition. The findings suggest that group differences may reflect variations in neural processing efficiency, brain connectivity, or the balance between excitatory and inhibitory activity, and that further study of these patterns could help clarify the biological foundations of autism and schizophrenia.

Brianna Cairney <brianna.cairney@yale.edu>

Childhood Disintegrative Disorder (CDD) is a rare, severe, late-onset form of autistic regression. Although CDD is rare, regression is commonly described in autism, affecting a third of individuals. Studying CDD provides valuable insights into autistic regression in general. Because of Yale's long-standing expertise in CDD, we developed an international reputation for studying this disorder and characterized the largest known cohort in the world. We published the first neurogenetic analysis, revealing important differences between CDD and other forms of autism. Therefore, treating CDD and autistic regression may require different approaches from the broader spectrum.

Abha Gupta (Associate Professor) <abha.gupta@yale.edu>

A study of 58 autistic adolescents aged 12-19 investigated how executive function difficulties relate to irritability, a highly prevalent clinical concern in this population. Researchers measured executive function using both task-based tests (NIH Toolbox) and parent-reported questionnaires (BRIEF), while assessing irritability through the Affective Reactivity Index. The findings revealed that while task-based executive function measures showed no significant correlation with irritability, parent-reported emotion regulation abilities were strongly associated with irritability levels. Specifically, adolescents with greater difficulty managing emotional responses and adapting to changing situations showed higher irritability scores. These results suggest that poor emotion regulation skills may be a key mechanism underlying irritability in autistic adolescents, and that parent-rated measures may better capture real-world executive function challenges than laboratory tasks.

Sydney Anderson <sydney.anderson@yale.edu>

A study of 133 autistic youth ages 8-19 examined the reliability and clinical utility of self-reported irritability, a major clinical concern that has historically been assessed primarily through parent reports rather than the perspectives of autistic individuals themselves. Using the Affective Reactivity Index (ARI), researchers found that self-reports showed good internal consistency and were correlated with parent reports, though parent-reported irritability scores were significantly higher than child-reported scores. Importantly, autism characteristics and IQ were not related to children's ability to self-report irritability, supporting that autistic youth can accurately report on their own emotional experiences. The findings suggest that incorporating both parent and self-reports provides complementary information, and that a multi-informant approach to assessing irritability has valuable clinical and research applications for autistic youth.

Sydney Anderson <sydney.anderson@yale.edu>

A study using eye-tracking technology examined how anxiety symptoms influence visual attention to faces in 395 children ages 6-11, including 276 with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and 119 typically developing (TD) children. The research found that social anxiety, but not general anxiety, significantly predicted how much autistic children looked at faces in naturalistic social scenes. Interestingly, younger autistic children with higher social anxiety looked more at faces, but this relationship diminished as children got older. No such relationship was found in typically developing children. These findings diverge from previous research that suggested social anxiety reduces attention to faces, possibly because this study used naturalistic social scenes rather than isolated face images and focused on a younger age group. The results suggest that treating anxiety might impact social differences in autism, and understanding how social anxiety distinctly influences social behavior in autistic children could help inform the development of better supports.

Casey Carrow <casey.carrow@yale.edu>

A multisite study of 271 autistic children aged 6-11 examined how socioeconomic factors influence adaptive functioning skills, which impact daily self-sufficiency and quality of life. Researchers analyzed caregiver reports of adaptive behavior across communication, daily living, and socialization domains, while also collecting demographic information including household income and caregiver education levels. The findings revealed that family income relative to need and caregiver education were significant predictors of adaptive functioning, with children from higher-income families and those whose caregivers had more education showing stronger adaptive skills, particularly in communication. These results emphasize the critical importance of addressing socioeconomic disparities and improving access to educational resources and intervention services to better support families of autistic children from lower socioeconomic backgrounds.

Sara Eberle <sara.eberle@yale.edu>

This study is the first to measure absolute levels of metabotropic glutamate receptor 5 (mGlu5) in the autistic brain using advanced PET imaging. Researchers compared 16 autistic adults with 16 neurotypical participants and discovered that autistic individuals showed approximately 15% lower mGlu5 availability throughout all brain regions, with the most significant differences in the cerebral cortex. The team also used electroencephalography (EEG) to measure excitatory brain activity and found that mGlu5 levels positively correlated with measures of excitatory neurotransmission in autistic participants. These findings represent a promising advance for understanding the biological basis of autism and could lead to new treatment approaches and objective diagnostic tools. The research also suggests that EEG may offer a more accessible and cost-effective way to screen individuals and understand glutamatergic function in autism.

Adam Naples <adam.naples@yale.edu>

The first in vivo investigation of synaptic density in autism reveals significant differences at the molecular level. Using advanced PET imaging with [11C]UCB-J to measure synaptic vesicle glycoprotein 2A (SV2A), researchers compared 12 autistic adults with 20 neurotypical adults and found that autistic participants exhibited approximately 10% lower synaptic density across all brain regions. Importantly, the study discovered a strong relationship between synaptic density and social-communicative functioning: autistic individuals with higher synaptic density showed better social and communication abilities, as measured by clinical assessments. These findings provide the first direct evidence that brain-wide synaptic density may represent a molecular basis for the clinical features of autism, establishing a novel link between mechanistic brain function at the molecular level and the behavioral characteristics of the disorder.

Adam Naples <adam.naples@yale.edu>

A study of 260 autistic children and 116 neurotypical children aged 6-11 examined how anxiety and depression symptoms relate to brain activity patterns measured through EEG. The research found that symptoms of persistent depression—a milder, chronic form of depression—were negatively associated with resting alpha power in autistic children, meaning higher depression symptoms corresponded with lower alpha brain wave activity. Surprisingly, neither general anxiety nor major depression symptoms showed this relationship. The connection between persistent depression and brain activity differed between autistic and neurotypical children, highlighting that co-occurring mental health conditions can influence EEG patterns differently in autism. These findings emphasize the importance of accounting for depression and anxiety when developing and interpreting EEG biomarkers for autism spectrum disorder.

Isabel Rodden <isabel.rodden@yale.edu>

A study examining the relationship between sensory sensitivities and irritability in adolescents with autism spectrum disorder revealed significant differences between parent and child reports. Using the Affective Reactivity Index and Adolescent/Adult Sensory Profile, researchers found that child-rated irritability correlated with low registration, sensory avoiding, and sensory sensitivity patterns, while parent-rated irritability showed opposite patterns. The analysis revealed a high parent-child discrepancy score, with parents consistently rating their children's irritability higher than the children rated themselves. Importantly, the three sensory profile quadrants were predictive of these rating discrepancies, suggesting that sensory sensitivities may be contributing to differences in how parents and children perceive irritability. The findings highlight the importance of considering both perspectives when assessing irritability in autistic adolescents and suggest that sensory profiles may sometimes conflate with anxiety or irritability symptoms.

Amanda Shelton <denis.sukhodolsky@yale.edu>

A study of 64 young children examined whether motor stereotypies (repetitive movements like hand-flapping or body-rocking) differ between children with and without autism spectrum disorder. Despite significant differences in cognitive, language, and adaptive functioning between the groups, researchers found that motor stereotypies manifested with similar frequency, interference levels, and forms regardless of autism diagnosis. The study revealed that the degree of interference caused by motor stereotypies was only moderately related to how often they occurred, meaning these behaviors aren't always impairing when present. Importantly, greater interference from motor stereotypies was strongly associated with executive function challenges across all children, suggesting that these repetitive movements may be more significantly impairing for children with broader self-regulatory difficulties. The findings support the conclusion that motor stereotypies are a transdiagnostic behavioral phenomenon rather than an autism-specific feature.

Leah Wang <leah.wang@yale.edu>

A pilot project developed and tested a structured Spanish-language protocol to help Spanish-speaking families better understand disorders of gut-brain interaction (DGBIs) and engage with integrated psychological care. Recognizing that Spanish-speaking families face unique linguistic and cultural barriers—including potential distrust of psychological services—researchers created a four-part introduction protocol delivered by Spanish-speaking providers at an interdisciplinary pediatric DGBI clinic. The protocol used visual handouts and culturally appropriate metaphors to explain the gut-brain connection and the role of psychology in treatment. Initial feedback from two participating families revealed that they appreciated receiving holistic care in their native language, though they also wanted to discuss other psychiatric conditions like autism and ADHD as part of the visit. Based on consultation with health equity leaders, the researchers identified several areas for improvement, including simplifying language to a 6th-grade reading level, integrating the medical and psychology team presentations to reduce confusion, and involving local community members in protocol development to increase co-creation. The findings suggest that intentional, culturally sensitive approaches can enhance Spanish-speaking families' access to and understanding of integrated pediatric GI care.

Anthony Cifre <anthony.cifre@yale.edu>

A training program addressing the historical relationship between Yale and the New Haven community demonstrates how incorporating local context into structural humility education can transform clinician attitudes and practice. The team developed a training that examined the sociopolitical context of Yale and New Haven, piloting it with 30 clinicians over two one-hour sessions. Results showed a notable shift in how clinicians described patients who don't consistently attend treatment—moving from judgmental language like "unmotivated," "resistant," and "non-compliant" before training to more systemic understanding using terms like "socioeconomic-barriers," "mistrust," and "systemic-barriers" afterward. Participants reported increased structural competency, improved efforts in rapport building, and a stronger sense of responsibility to be change agents between Yale and the New Haven community. The findings suggest that training modules addressing town-gown dynamics can be beneficial across Yale School of Medicine's missions and could be expanded to other roles and specialties.

Tara Davila <tara.davila@yale.edu>

A cross-species study examined how early-life stress (ELS) relates to aggressive behavior in both humans and rhesus monkeys, revealing important parallels across species. In 21 children ages 8-12, researchers found that greater exposure to adversity significantly predicted more severe aggressive behaviors, and this relationship was associated with altered brain connectivity between the amygdala and superior temporal gyrus during resting-state fMRI. In a parallel study of 61 rhesus monkeys assigned to different early rearing conditions, mother-reared monkeys showed significantly higher rates of aggression than surrogate peer-reared monkeys, and peer-reared monkeys with more aggressive behavior showed elevated stress hormone levels (hair cortisol concentration). Together, these findings demonstrate that early-life stress experiences have measurable effects on both neurobiological development and aggressive behavior across primate species, suggesting common biological pathways through which adversity shapes behavior.

Emily Drucker (CUNY Hunter College) <karim.ibrahim@yale.edu>

A cross-species study examined how parental warmth influences prosocial behaviors like sharing and showing kindness in both human children and young rhesus macaques, and whether social status affects this relationship. The research analyzed 10,938 human children aged 9-11 years and 25 infant rhesus macaques during their early development. Results revealed that in humans, higher parental warmth was associated with greater prosocial behavior, particularly in high socioeconomic status contexts. Surprisingly, the pattern was reversed in macaques, where higher mother-infant interactions were linked to lower prosocial behavior among higher-ranking individuals. These cross-species parallels suggest that while the link between parental care and prosocial behavior may be evolutionarily conserved, social status influences this relationship differently across contexts and species.

Heidi Du <amanda.dettmer@yale.edu>

A randomized controlled trial examined whether improving the mental health climate in family child care settings could enhance language development for infants and toddlers from underserved communities. Twenty-eight family child care providers (32% serving families below the federal poverty threshold, 57% preferring non-English services) were randomly assigned to either receive the I-T CHILD consultation program or a waitlist-control condition, serving 72 infants and toddlers. The I-T CHILD program uses a dual approach: an assessment tool measuring nine dimensions of mental health climate and consultation/coaching based on those scores. Results showed that children in the intervention group had significantly higher rates of child vocalizations (113% increase) and conversational turns (90% increase), along with dramatically reduced exposure to TV/electronic sounds (86% decrease) compared to controls. These findings demonstrate that family child care providers serving minoritized communities can effectively harness mentally healthy interactions to create language-rich environments, with implications extending beyond social-emotional learning to serve as a protective factor for racially and linguistically minoritized children.

Chin R. Reyes <chin.reyes@yale.edu>

The Vaccarino Lab has pioneered iPSC technology since 2009 to create brain organoids that model human neurodevelopment and psychiatric disorders including Autism, Tourette syndrome, and Schizophrenia. Their research platform combines multiple cutting-edge approaches: developing cortical and basal ganglia-like organoid protocols, using CRISPR techniques to trace and manipulate neuronal development, and employing a novel device called DuoMAPS that exposes organoids to continuous morphogen gradients to better mimic natural brain development. The lab investigates how signaling pathways like Wnt and SHH influence neuronal fate decisions, explores inter-individual variability in brain development, and studies connectivity between different brain regions. By deriving organoids from patients with neurodevelopmental disorders, they can identify diverging regulatory features during early development and study sex-specific effects, somatic mosaicism, and neuronal activity patterns that may underlie these conditions.

Nagham Farah <nagham.farah@yale.edu>

A study investigating how the brain retains newly learned speech motor patterns reveals that specific brain regions play critical roles in maintaining speech motor memory. Researchers trained participants to produce new vowel sounds by altering their speech formants (acoustic properties), then tested memory retention 24 hours later while using transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) to temporarily disrupt different brain areas. The findings showed that speech motor learning successfully produced new vowel sounds whose memory was retained substantially after 24 hours. Critically, disrupting the superior temporal gyrus (auditory cortex) and posterior primary somatosensory cortex impaired memory retention, while disrupting the primary motor cortex did not. The impairment was specific to the newly learned speech feature and was not due to general changes in speech production ability. These results demonstrate that auditory and somatosensory brain regions causally contribute to consolidating speech motor memories, providing insights into how the brain maintains learned speech patterns.

Nishant Rao <nishant.rao@yale.edu>

A study investigating what makes humans unique at a biological level focused on the higher number of dendritic spines in the human prefrontal cortex (PFC), a brain region critical for learning, reasoning, and decision-making. Researchers created a humanized mouse line by modifying CBLN2, a gene involved in synaptic organization, which resulted in increased dendritic spine density similar to the human brain pattern. Using viral tracing, the team discovered that these mice exhibited transient developmental hyperconnectivity, including unexpected motor area-to-PFC connections and stronger inputs from the basolateral amygdala (BLA). While most of this hyperconnectivity disappeared by day 100, the BLA projections persisted. Behavioral tests revealed that humanized mice showed enhanced social novelty preference and reduced anxiety-like behavior, suggesting that changes in BLA-PFC connectivity may underlie differences in emotional and social processing.

Arianna Rodriguez Rivera <arianna.rodriguezrivera@yale.edu>

A research study investigated how specific genes guide the formation of brain circuits between the prefrontal cortex and thalamus, connections essential for thinking, memory, and decision-making. The researchers focused on PCDH17, a gene that is highly active in the developing frontal lobe during the mid-fetal stage—the same critical period when risk factors for autism spectrum disorder and schizophrenia emerge. Using a mouse model, they selectively deleted the Pcdh17 gene from specific brain regions and found that mice lacking the gene in the cortex showed reduced connections from thalamic regions crucial for cognition, working memory, and motivation. The team is now investigating how patient-specific mutations in PCDH17's regulatory regions affect gene expression and brain wiring, with particular focus on an enhancer region carrying a genetic variant associated with lower cognitive performance. This work aims to connect genetic risk factors directly to circuit-level changes, providing insights into how subtle genetic variations can alter brain connectivity and contribute to neuropsychiatric disorders.

Nikkita Salla <nikkita.salla@yale.edu>

A research project using data from the NIH's All of Us program developed a classification model to identify schizophrenia risk based on genetic factors. Using genetic data from 991 participants with schizophrenia and 3,783 controls without psychiatric conditions, researchers calculated polygenic risk scores (PRS) - measures of genetic predisposition based on multiple genes - and built a machine learning model to distinguish between the two groups. The results confirmed that participants with schizophrenia had higher genetic risk scores than controls, and the model achieved 78% accuracy in classification. However, the model performed much better at identifying healthy controls than those with schizophrenia, and its overall predictive power was below acceptable thresholds. The findings suggest that while genetics play a role, additional non-genetic factors such as environmental and lifestyle variables will need to be incorporated to create a more effective tool for early schizophrenia risk assessment.

Sarah Abdallah <sarah.abdallah@yale.edu>

A comprehensive systematic review and meta-analysis of 14 randomized controlled trials examined when antipsychotic medications show their greatest effects in treating children and adolescents with schizophrenia. Analyzing data from 3,115 participants with an average age of 15.4 years, researchers tracked how symptom improvements unfolded over time during treatment. The findings revealed that antipsychotics were more effective than placebo as early as the first week of treatment, with most of the reduction in overall schizophrenia symptoms occurring within the first four weeks. This research represents the first pooled analysis to characterize the timeline of antipsychotic response in this young population and provides important guidance for practitioners and guideline developers about how long to trial a medication before determining it has failed to work effectively.

Luis C. Farhat <luis.farhat@yale.edu>

A study of 576 active-duty Israeli Defense Forces soldiers examined the relationship between childhood trauma and PTSD symptoms during the Israel-Hamas war, comparing Lone Soldiers (predominantly from the US and abroad, serving without family support) to Non-Lone Soldiers. The research revealed striking differences: 78% of Lone Soldiers met diagnostic criteria for PTSD, compared to only 8% of Non-Lone Soldiers. Lone Soldiers also reported significantly higher rates of childhood physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect. The study found that loneliness and lack of social support mediated the relationship between childhood trauma and PTSD severity, highlighting the compounding effect of isolation on combat-related trauma. These findings underscore the critical need for comprehensive support systems specifically designed for Lone Soldiers and suggest that addressing both current combat experiences and prior childhood trauma is essential for effective treatment.

Faigy Mandelbaum <faigy.mandelbaum@yale.edu>

A research study proposes to examine how parenting styles relate to Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) using data from over 5,000 Scottish children followed from birth through age 17. The researchers plan to investigate two key questions: first, whether negative parenting styles explain the connection between parental irritability and increased ACEs in children, and second, whether strong couple relationships can protect children from ACEs when positive parenting is present. In this study, ACEs include parental separation, emotional neglect, and domestic violence. The findings aim to clarify how different parenting approaches and family dynamics influence childhood adversity, with the ultimate goal of informing interventions that could help mitigate the effects of ACEs on children's well-being.

Kelsey Ann McDonnell <kelsey.mcdonnell@yale.edu>