An international team of researchers from Europe and Australia will contribute to MICRO-NEST, a €6 million Horizon Europe project that applies an innovative approach to identifying autism markers in children born before 37 weeks of gestation.
According to the Global Disease, Injury and Risk Factors Survey (2021), autism is among the top 10 causes of non-fatal health burden for people under 20 years of age.
The MICRO-NEST project aims to transform the detection and management of autism in preterm infants, an understudied population. Their long-term health can benefit from early intervention, treatment, and support.
Nevertheless, boys are usually not diagnosed until their fifth birthday, and girls are usually diagnosed even later. MICRO-NEST project coordinator Professor Pierre Gressens says the project will lead to improved diagnosis and fairer outcomes for children.
Missed opportunities to provide support and treatment at critical times early in life are compounded by inequities in access and high lifetime costs for individuals, families, and health systems.
MICRO-NEST addresses gaps in early diagnosis by identifying early childhood biological markers, creating new tools, and informing neonatal and autism support guidelines for anticipatory care. ”
Professor Pierre Gressens, MICRO-NEST Project Coordinator
Preterm birth is a devastating early life event and a major cause of neurodevelopmental, cognitive, and behavioral disorders. Children born prematurely are three times more likely to be diagnosed with autism due to changes in brain development.
MICRO-NEST proposes that the prenatal and perinatal microenvironment, including the immune system, gut microbiota, and early life events, forms a developmental “nest” that shapes the gene-driven trajectory of brain maturation.
People with autism exhibit dysfunction in the brain, immune system, and microbiome, but the reasons for this are still poorly understood. Many people have gastrointestinal symptoms related to gut microbiome imbalances, making this a priority for treatment.
MICRO-NEST takes into account sex, gender, age, ethnicity, socio-economic, lifestyle, behavioral and social factors to generate new knowledge about the processes that drive changes in the gut, immune system, microbiome and brain that lead to autism.
The team’s innovative approach will integrate genomics, glycomics, immune profiling, microbiome analysis, and advanced brain imaging to map mechanistic pathways associated with preterm birth, inflammation, and autism.
Through comprehensive analysis of data from existing European studies and preclinical investigations, MICRO-NEST researchers will create an AI-enabled digital twin for autism, the first tool for autism diagnosis.
This technology enables clinicians to turn complex data into actionable insights and provide patients with personalized plans for support and treatment of negative symptoms such as gastrointestinal discomfort. Digital twins will be available to clinicians, neonatologists, pediatricians, and child psychiatrists.
At the heart of MICRO-NEST is a collaboration between researchers and people with lived experience of autism and preterm birth.
Ongoing consultation between researchers, patients and carers from the start of a project ensures that research results are acceptable, improve quality of life and benefit society’s most vulnerable people.
MICRO-NEST’s team of experts across Europe and Australia will begin the five-year project from September 2026.
Partners: Inserm (coordinator); RMIT Europe; Utrecht University Medical Center; Essen University Hospital. King’s College London. University of Edinburgh; Maastricht University; University of Rostock; University of Gothenburg; Unapei. World Foundation for Neonatal Care. Dresden University of Technology; Genos Ltd; University of Geneva; Intherm Transfer SA; RMIT University.
Funded by the European Union. However, the views and opinions expressed are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the licensing authorities can be held responsible for them.
