n the decades-long search for autism’s origin, researchers have tested a range of theories, some dubious – such as bad parenting – others more plausible, such as pollution. Despite billions of dollars spent on research since the first diagnosis in 1943, science has made limited progress isolating the precise biological mechanisms that contribute to the disorder’s development.
Morgan Firestein, a core member of the Rutgers Brain Health Institute, said it’s time to go back to the beginning – all the way back, to the womb. In the early 2010s, when Firestein began studying autism as an undergrad at Columbia University, research was primarily focused on identifying genetic risk factors. What struck her was the potential for prenatal influence. “It just seemed biologically probable that the origin of autism could be traced back to pregnancy,” said Firestein, who joined Rutgers in September 2025.
Today, that hunch is paying off. Funded by a highly competitive Pathway to Independence Award from the National Institutes of Health, Firestein, who is an assistant professor of pediatrics at Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, is at Rutgers to investigate whether maternal-fetal-placental signaling through extracellular vesicles influences the development of autism. To read the full story.