In the past few weeks, Autism Speaks has launched a massive, new campaign in order to raise awareness of and study the genomic information behind Autism Spectrum Disorder. Called the MSSNG Project, it is already catching the attention of large-scale communications organizations such as Fox Business and Bloomberg TV. According to the project’s website, “Autism Speaks is collaborating with Google to store sequenced data from MSSNG on the Google Cloud Platform, providing an open resource for scientists worldwide to access and share autism research.” (AutismSpeaks.org).

According to Autism Speaks, the MSSNG project, once known as The Autism Speaks Ten Thousand Genomes Program, will be essential in better understanding of autism and the advanced genetics behind the study. Not only will the project greatly improve our current treatments , but the campaign also seeks to take a look at the DNA of autistic people, illustrating the ingrained beauty of those with ASD.

As it’s home website states, what makes MSSNG more impressive than almost any other autism study project is its absolutely massive scale. The project plans to use genomes from several thousand individuals, storing the information found on a Google platform. From here, scientists and doctors studying ASD will have more details and statistics at their fingertips than ever before!

While the MSSNG project focuses largely on the work of professionals, there’s plenty that we can do to help the cause here at FHS and in the community. One of the most important and easy steps to support Autism Speaks in this enterprise is donating online, which can be done on the organization’s homepage. Every dollar really does count when it comes to such expensive projects as MSSNG, considering that $25 million will be needed to keep it up and running. So please, if you’re fortunate enough to have money to spare, donate to Autism Speaks! Your payment, be it $5 or $50, can easily make the difference.