Children's Hospital of Philadelphia Researchers Awarded $1.3 Million from Eagles Autism Foundation

Funding will support five research and community projects aimed at improving the lives of children with autism

PHILADELPHIA, March 24, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) is proud to announce awards from the Eagles Autism Foundation totaling more than $1.3 million over the course of the next two years. The awards will support five cutting edge autism projects from various research labs across CHOP's research enterprise.

The approved research projects span from building on current ongoing and effective programs to topics and approaches that were novel, exploratory, and innovative. The community grants were distributed to projects that proved to be evidence-based, were aligned with the Eagles Autism Foundation mission, and fulfilled an immediate need in the community.

Research proposals were assessed by a team of internationally recognized researchers who were individually selected based on subject matter. Significance, investigator(s), innovation, approach, and environment were all taken into consideration when assessing each project. All research proposals were evaluated for measurable outcomes and transformational impact in the field of autism.

These five projects were selected to receive funding beginning in 2025:

• Hakon Hakonarson, MD, PhD, director of the Center for Applied Genomics at CHOP, will lead a team of researchers studying variants of the ADGRB3 gene that may be related to autism. Learning more about the gene and functional impact of these variants may lead to potential diagnostic and treatment strategies.
• Laura McGarry, MD, PhD, a fellow in the Division of Neurology at CHOP, and her group will investigate how impairment of inhibitory interneurons, which regulate neuronal activity in the brain, is critical to autism associated with Dravet syndrome, a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by epilepsy in the first year of life and significant developmental delays. This will build upon years of critical work researching the role of interneurons in epilepsy associated with Dravet syndrome to uncover their roles in autism.
• Jerome Clatot, PhD, Director of the Epilepsy Neurogenetics Initiative (ENGIN) Ion Channel/Electrophysiology Core and a research scientist at CHOP, will study mutations in the SCN2A gene that have been previously linked to autism. The goal of the project is to increase the understanding of the SCN2A gene and its role in brain development and research a potential therapeutic target for new treatments and therapies for autism.
• Naiara Akizu, PhD, Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at CHOP, is leading a project to study how small effect size genetic variants in chromatin regulators contribute to polygenic neurodevelopmental disorders, or disorders that can be caused by more than one mutation. Specifically, her team will study how common small effect size variants in chromatin regulators may lead to changes in gene expression, which could increase the neurodevelopmental disease burden.
• Additionally, CHOP's Fostering Health Program received an Eagles Autism Foundation community grant to help children in foster care with autism spectrum disorder access services. The project will provide case management, address transportation barriers for families, and develop a resource guide for foster parents, health care providers and child welfare agencies.

Since 2016, CHOP has received more than $6 million in funding from the Eagles Autism Foundation for a variety of research and community impact projects. CHOP was also one of the founding beneficiaries during the 2018 launch of the Eagles Autism Challenge, which will take place again on Saturday, May 17, 2025. Additionally, the Center for Autism Research at CHOP and the Eagles Autism Foundation lead the annual Eagles Huddle Up for Autism event to raise awareness and funds for autism support. The next Huddle Up event is taking place at Lincoln Financial Field on Sunday, March 30, 2025.

About Children's Hospital of Philadelphia: 
A non-profit, charitable organization, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nation's first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals, and pioneering major research initiatives, the hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. The institution has a well-established history of providing advanced pediatric care close to home through its CHOP Care Network, which includes more than 50 primary care practices, specialty care and surgical centers, urgent care centers, and community hospital alliances throughout Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as the Middleman Family Pavilion and its dedicated pediatric emergency department in King of Prussia. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought Children's Hospital of Philadelphia recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit https://www.chop.edu. 

Contact: Ben Leach
Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
(609) 634-7906
[email protected]

SOURCE Children's Hospital of Philadelphia