Inspired by the concept of neuronal “synapses”, the Synapse Lab aims to solve clinical and scientific puzzles by connecting innovation with technology, physiology with pathology, gene and environment, health with disease, and Eastern medicine with Western medicine. The lab's research devoted to research advancement on Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), is mostly focused on early biomarker identification to improve ASD early screening/diagnosis and targeted early intervention.
Dr. Xue-Jun (June) Kong, MD, the Director of the Synapse Lab, has extensive research experience. While working as a pulmonologist in Beijing Medical University in the late 1980’s and while training as a pulmonary research fellow at Tufts—NEMC in the 1990’s, she has conducted molecular biology research on free radicals and superoxide dismutase to study acute lung injury mechanisms in both animal and human cell models. In addition, she also studied cell cycling regulation. Her works were presented in American Thoracic Society international conferences and published in top peer-reviewed journals.
In the last 10 years, autism spectrum disorders (ASD) have been Dr. Kong’s major research interest. She has published more than 30 peer-reviewed articles and 5 peer-reviewed autism special issues. She has initiated a comprehensive medical evaluation protocol, an autism primary care model, and an East-meets-West protocol. In her clinical investigations, she focuses on early diagnosis and screening tools for ASD as well as the microbiome, genomics, eye tracking, autonomic dysfunctions, and imaging studies. Together with Dr. Jian Kong, she invented a new eye-tracking paradigm at Massachusetts General Hospital. Dr. Kong is a senior health advisor of Shenzhen City (China) and is a leader in Shenzhen Hospital’s Autism Research and Clinical Centers. Her collaborations extend to Beijing, Qingdao, Henan, Hebei, and many more. She was also appointed as Associate Director of Autism Prevention and Treatment Project in China, and is a distinguished professor of Dalian University and Qingdao University.
Most recently, several studies have been wrapped up and data analysis is taking place along with preparations for publication. These studies range in focus from validation of a new early diagnosis tool to exploring the effects of probiotics and oxytocin treatment on children with ASD. In the future, the lab plans to continue the research focus on identifying tools that may be useful in early screening along with exploring treatment methods through clinical trials.