Mass. ranks high in today's research awards

Massachusetts remains second in the number of grants awarded through federal stimulus funding for biomedical research, after a new batch of grants were announced today by the White House.

With 1,148 grants made through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 to date, the state trails only California's 1,604, in keeping with earlier grant totals tallied in this Sept. 4 Globe story.

Among the newly funded projects is a $4.5 million joint effort by scientists at Children's Hospital Boston, the Cambridge-based Broad Institute, and Harvard Medical School to sequence whole genomes of people with autism. Dr. Christopher Walsh of Children's, Michael Greenberg of Harvard, and Stacey Gabriel and Dr. David Altshuler of the Broad are the co-investigators.

Their work will build on Walsh's earlier studies of 85 Middle Eastern patients who share ancestors and recessive forms of autism. The researchers will sequence their DNA to pinpoint disease-causing genes and also study parts of their genome that don't code for proteins -- sometimes called "junk DNA" -- but might influence gene activity related to autism. Gene activity in brain cells will also be examined.

Part of the federal Grand Opportunity program to spur research activity, the grant must be spent within 18 months.