Stephen Edward Paucha Smith, Ph.D., Seattle Children’s Research Institute, employs quantitative multiplex immunoprecipitaion (QMI) to measure the physical interactions among a network of synaptic proteins whose genes have been linked with autism. These proteins form tiny molecular machines that control communication between neurons. In this research Dr. Smith will use two independent mouse models (the Shank3 and VPA models), in which a specific sub-network of interactions centered on Homer1 is strongly upregulated. Data suggest that Homer1 may be an important network hub that is dysregulated in multiple genetic version of ASD. The team will examine the behavior of this sub-network in the Shank3 knockout mice and their wild-type littermates.