Beth Stevens is unmasking new roles for microglia, the mysterious brain cells that seem to shape brain circuits.

Sergiu Pasca was among the first to model autism with neurons from affected individuals, a feat that could reveal the biochemical roots of some forms of autism.

Stephan Sanders has quickly climbed the ranks in autism research. At 35, he’s already credited with bringing a measure of clarity to autism genetics. And that’s just one feat in a long and accomplished resume.

British psychologist Uta Frith has singlehandedly transformed our understanding of autism. In partnership with her husband, neuroimaging expert Chris Frith, she helped launch the field of cognitive neuroscience and shaped a generation of scientists.

Tim Roberts knits together physics, medicine and technology to trace the origins of language processing problems in the brain, hoping to identify a telltale signature, or biomarker, for autism.

Elliott Sherr is unraveling the effects of genetics and brain structure in a handful of disparate disorders that each illuminates some aspect of autism.

Simon Fisher made headlines in 2001 for finding the first gene related to language. He has been following FOXP2 ever since, and has found that it is important in autism and other psychiatric disorders.

Matthew Goodwin aims to use wearable sensors and computational techniques to help scientists understand hand flapping and other behaviors in children with autism.

Husband and wife research team Andrew Meltzoff and Patricia Kuhl have shown that learning is a fundamentally social process, beginning in early infancy.

Smart risk management has propelled Benjamin Philpot from one adventure to another, whether it’s attempting unusual drug screens, learning to rock climb or taking his family to see volcanoes in Chile. His optimism and scientific vigor have led to discoveries for the rare Angelman syndrome, and for the wider autism spectrum.