# Electrophysiological biomarkers of social engagement in autism

> **NIH NIH K23** · DUKE UNIVERSITY · 2024 · $178,938

## Abstract

This career development proposal's overall goal is to prepare the candidate, Alexandra Bey, MD, PhD, for an
independent research career developing and utilizing electrophysiological and behavioral biomarkers for
endophenotyping, stratification, and measuring response to intervention to improve social engagement in autism.
This will be accomplished through a comprehensive training plan targeting expertise in: 1) acquiring,
processing, and standard and novel machine-learning analyses of human EEG studies; 2) clinical research with
autistic children including study methodology informed by knowledge of social development and interfacing with
neurodiverse stakeholders; and 3) advanced statistical methods including longitudinal and multivariate models.
The mentorship team has expertise that overlaps well with these training goals and a proven track record of
impactful interdisciplinary research, extensive grant funding, and mentorship of early career faculty, including
several K awardees. The candidate, a neuroscientist and child psychiatrist, has a unique and productive
background conducting studies ranging from electrophysiological studies in preclinical models of autism to
measuring social engagement in caregiver-child interaction. The environment is ideally-suited, with the
extensive infrastructure of Duke's NIH Autism Center of Excellence research program synergizing with the
proposed study as well as the departmental and university commitment to the careers of physician-scientists.
Early childhood represents a critical period for delivering early autism intervention to affect lifelong skill
development which impacts an individual's overall functioning. This proposal responds to NIMH autism research
priorities to develop “new tools for use in screening, stratification and/or measuring outcome in response to
intervention” by investigating electrophysiological biomarkers in autistic preschoolers with relevance to a core
construct of early intervention, enhancing social engagement. Preliminary evidence from
electroencephalography (EEG) studies from my mentor's team identified decreased gaze to social compared to
nonsocial stimuli is associated with decreased frontal and posterior ß1 power and increased posterior θ EEG
power in autistic children. This proposal will validate this finding in participants undergoing simultaneous EEG
and automated detection of eye gaze, analyze the relationship between these EEG power features and rigorous
coding of child-caregiver social engagement, and examine the longitudinal relationship between change in these
EEG measures and change in standardized assessments of social communication functioning over time. Finally,
the candidate will explore novel analyses of functional connectivity developed from her preclinical
electrophysiology studies to determine whether these biomarkers also relate to the above measures of social
engagement given the evidence that aberrant connectivity is a hallmark of autistic brains. Future ...

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10983443
- **Project number:** 1K23MH135224-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** DUKE UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Alexandra Lyndon Bey
- **Activity code:** K23 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $178,938
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-09-01 → 2028-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10983443

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10983443, Electrophysiological biomarkers of social engagement in autism (1K23MH135224-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10983443. Licensed CC0.

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