Dr. Richard Frye, MD PhD, Director of Autism Research and Associate Professor of Pediatrics at Arkansas Children's Hospital to discuss:

• Evidence for Mitochondrial Dysfunction in Autism Spectrum Disorder
• Biomarkers for mitochondrial dysfunction
• Importance of cerebral folate deficiency/insufficiency and the folate receptor autoantibody
• How cerebral folate deficiency/insufficiency is diagnosed and treated

About The Speaker:

Dr Richard Frye, MD, Ph.D.is the Director of Autism Research at Arkansas Children's Hospital/University of Arkansas Medical Sciences in Little Rock, AR. Dr Frye is a well-recognized expert in the diagnosis and treatment of ASD and other developmental disorders. Dr. Frye has a broad background including specific training in neurodevelopmental disorders, physiology, psychology and biostatistics. He is fellowship trained in Behavioral Neurology and Psychology and has clinical expertise in the assessment, diagnosis and treatment of children with ASD. While at the University of Texas he developed a medically-based autism clinic which was specifically designed to diagnose and treat neurological and metabolic abnormalities associated with ASD in order to improve quality of life and promote recovery. Over the past two years he have completed three clinical studies related to ASD, including an open-label trial examining the metabolic and behavioral effects of tetrahydrobiopterin, a clinical study of the metabolic and genetic characteristics of children with ASD and mitochondrial disease, and a clinical study on the prevalence of the folate receptor alpha autoantibody in children with ASD as well as the response to leucovorin treatment in ASD children with the folate receptor alpha autoantibody. As Director of Autism Research at the Arkansas Children's Hospital his goal is to develop an integrated autism program that includes a multi-specialty autism clinic, a translational research program focusing on biomarkers and clinical-trials, and a basic science program focusing on mitochondrial and redox metabolic metabolism.