Chinese scientists create autistic monkeys in the hope of finding new ways to treat the condition

Sign up for our free Health Check email to receive exclusive analysis on the week in health Get our free Health Check email Get our free Health Check email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Chinese scientists say they have genetically engineered autistic monkeys in the hope of finding new ways to treat the condition. The challenge for scientists now is to develop methods to treat the monkeys, with the long-term hope of finding a genuine cure for autism. Speaking at a press conference organised by Nature – the journal which published the Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences report - neuroscientist Zilong Qiu said the genetically engineered monkeys showed “very similar behaviour human autism patients.” Speaking about the programme, he added: “We think it provides a very unique model.” There have previously been reports of genetically engineered autism in monkeys, but Qiu’s experiment is the first time enough animals have been produced to observe stereotypical behavioural changes which could help develop treatments, according to MIT Technology Review. The scientists hope that an autism cure can be found by analysing the genetic changes they made when successfully creating the “severely sick” autistic monkeys.