Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) diagnoses have been rising over the past decades, with one in 36 children identified with the condition in 2020 compared to one in 150 back in 2000, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

It’s a broad diagnosis that covers patients who don’t perceive themselves as having a disability to people who require around-the-clock care, according to Dr. Matthew State, a child psychiatrist and president of the Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute at UCSF Health. He joined KCBS Radio’s Alice Wertz on “As Prescribed” along with Dr. Nevan Krogan, director of the Quantitative Biosciences Institute (QBI) at UCSF to discuss research they are doing to better understand the biology of ASD.