Clustering Autism Cases on Social Functioning

Autism is a highly heterogeneous disorder with wide variability in social functioning. Many diagnostic and neuropsychological tests exist which assess social functioning, but thus far few attempts have been made to classify distinct social phenotypes in autism, thereby reducing phenotypic heterogeneity and improving efforts to identify candidate genes. In this project we will use clustering procedures to stratify social phenotypes based on social functioning data available in the Autism Genetic Resource Exchange (AGRE) dataset. The next stage in the analysis would be to determine whether candidate genes involved in social functioning are associated with distinct social phenotypes.