Gabriela Cezar is a stem-cell researcher at UW-Madison, but she’s not studying the cells as potential cures.
She’s trying to come up with tests to detect developmental disorders such as autism.
In her lab, Cezar exposes dishes of embryonic stem cells to the epilepsy drug valproate. Studies have shown that the drug, when taken by pregnant women, increases a baby’s risk of autism, spina bifida and skeletal deformities.