MSU gets $2.1M US grant for national autism study

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) - Michigan State University has received a three-year, $2.1 million federal grant to help coordinate a large epidemiological study of autism.

The school says its Biomedical Research Informatics Core will collect data from about 3,000 families.

Principal researcher Phil Reed says the university is working with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on "the largest study ever conducted designed to help identify factors that may put children at risk" for autism.

The work at Michigan State is part of a 10-year study to try to find what might put children at risk for autism and related disorders.

The study sites are in California, Colorado, Maryland, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and the CDC in Atlanta.