In autumn 1999 Jan Witkowski generously agreed to host a meeting at the Banbury Center of Cold Spring Harbor to address concerns that the frequency of autism was increasing in Europe and North America, and that vaccines containing attenuated measles virus or thimerosal (used as a preservative in multidose vaccine preparations) might be implicated in pathogenesis of autism spectrum disorders. With support from Co-Organizers, Mady Hornig (University of California, Irvine) and David Amaral (MIND Institute of University of California, Davis), the extraordinary staff at Banbury Center, and input from participants, this meeting was expanded to review the status of research and treatment of autism spectrum disorders. The MIND Institute of UC Davis, Cure Autism Now Foundation, and the National Alliance for Autism Research provided financial support. The Banbury Center and crisp weather of Long Island in February provided an intimacy wherein investigators and representatives from academia, government and autism foundations could pursue consensus regarding what we know and what we need to know. What emerged was a patchwork of intriguing observations and recognition that autism spectrum disorders impact several organ systems and are likely to be multifactorial. Banbury Meetings are closed and typically do not result in publications; however, autism research is only beginning to crystallize as a field; thus, participants were eager to share their data and insights with a larger audience. We hope that this supplement will sharpen focus on autism spectrum disorders and attract new investigators to this frontier.
Although the meeting was convened 11–14 February 2001, manuscripts were submitted in the winter of 2001–2002. Manuscripts are presented without editing for content. A generous gift from Judith P Sulzberger to the Center for Developmental Neuroscience of Columbia University has allowed us to produce this supplement.
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