Autism research and education get a boost in Indiana with a newly designated university center.  The Purdue Autism Research Center, or PARC was created in response to a community call for more autism research.

PARC co-director A.J. Schwichtenberg says the group was recently expanded and named a center.

“Really it provides a level of legitimacy to what it is we’ve already been doing,” says Schwichtenberg.

The center designation allows Purdue University to receive additional federal funding from the National Institutes for Health.

About 600 students are currently studying autism through PARC.

Schwichtenberg says their work touches on a broad range of autism issues.

“It really is efforts, we like to say, from cell cultures to community cultures,” says Schwichtenberg.

The autism studies include brain imaging, educator training, family support programs and diagnostics.

PARC currently has 27 research projects in the works.