Eric Morrow, assistant professor of molecular biology, cell biology, and biochemistry, recently won a $250,000, two-year award jointly given by the Simons Foundation Autism Research Initiative and the Nancy Lurie Marks Family Foundation, two of the leading private autism philantropies. Morrow will use the money to gain insight into the possible role that specific genetic mutations play in severe and difficult-to-treat forms of autism by studying the neurological effects of the mutations in mouse models. As part of the award, Morrow has been named a Simons Investigator, which brings him into a prestigious community of researchers working to combat the condition. Morrow said he is honored to have this link, which includes special meetings and conferences, with colleagues whom he considers in the vanguard of the field. “The community of investigators is a very impressive group,” he said. In addition to performing genetic studies and other lab-based science at Brown, Morrow is a neuropsychiatrist who sees autism patients for purposes of this research at the Bradley Hospital in East Providence.