2017 Gatlinburg Conference Symposium Submission

Overview: In neurodevelopmental disorders, such as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), intellectual disability (ID) or Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), the tremendous heterogeneity in etiology and clinical presentation can undermine our ability to effectively stratify patients, target interventions, and predict outcomes from those interventions. Research to improve stratification and outcome measurement in ASD has become increasingly focused on the identification of putative biomarkers, from genetic variants to electrophysiological and imaging characteristics, that may help to define more homogeneous, biologically based subgroups within the spectrum. Electrophysiology (EEG) holds particular promise as a biomarker in neurodevelopmental disorders for both practical and scientific reasons. From a practical standpoint, EEG data acquisition is more feasible than other imaging modalities due to its motion tolerance. Scientifically, EEG measures basic neural processes that are disrupted in neurodevelopmental disorders, such as neural connectivity, circuit formation, and neural synchrony. However, many challenges exist in the development of EEG biomarkers, such as the stability of measures, particularly over developmentally dynamic periods, sensitivity to change, specificity of measures to diagnostic domains and core deficits, and a biomarker’s ability to stratify individuals based on clinical features or likelihood of response to treatment. In this symposium, we will begin with an overview of methodological considerations in EEG studies in neurodevelopmental disorders (Distefano). We then will present data from studies that have taken innovative approaches to identify EEG biomarkers in neurodevelopmental disorders, from ASD (Dickinson) to rare genetic variants (Hudac) to ADHD (Loo). We will discuss common themes across these syndromes that will have relevance to the identification of biomarkers in neurodevelopmental disorders