Jennifer Bain
Dr. Jennifer Bain is a pediatric neurologist and physician-scientist specializing in rare genetic neurodevelopmental disorders and their effects on brain development, including HNRNPH2-, GRIN-, and Angelman-related disorders. She leads a research program that integrates translational neuroscience, natural history studies, and clinical trials to advance understanding and treatment of rare neurogenetic conditions. Dr. Bain is dedicated to collaborative, family-centered care while developing innovative therapies through both industry-sponsored and investigator-initiated research studies.
William (Bill) Fifer
William Fifer is an established investigator in the fields of developmental psychobiology and perinatal neurobehavior, the laboratory director of a fetal/infant perinatal research laboratory, the Chief of the Division of Developmental Neuroscience at the New York State Psychiatric Institute, and the Associate Director of the Institute for Developmental Sciences at Columbia University Medical Center. His research has focused on the role of adverse environmental exposures in shaping fetal, premature infant, and early childhood physiology and neurobehavior. He investigates the complex interplay genetic and epigenetic vulnerability tied to sleep physiology, patterns of brain activity, attention, and autonomic control, as well as the risk for altered neurodevelopmental trajectories.
His laboratory has served as the physiological assessment center for several perinatal cohorts, including the international NIH Safe Passage Study on effects of prenatal exposures to alcohol and smoking on sudden infant death, stillbirth, and neurobehavioral development in South Dakota and South Africa. Other cohort studies have included the NIH ECHO longitudinal study and cohorts in sub-Saharan Africa funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome LEAP Foundation. Currently, our laboratory serves as the core for psychophysiological assessment for the Columbia University Autism Center of Excellence and the NIH HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) study. His team maintains longstanding collaborations with numerous developmental cohort studies and has cultivated a trusted reputation for working effectively with pediatric populations and their families. In summary, his team has been well-funded and successful in evaluating, implementing, and validating emerging technologies for laboratory and remote collection of biomarkers of sensory function, brain activity, and sleep health.
Nicolò Pini
Nicolò Pini, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Developmental Sciences in the Department of Psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the New York State Psychiatric Institute.
With training in biomedical engineering and developmental neuroscience, his work focuses on identifying early neurodevelopmental biomarkers of autism through longitudinal natural history studies in genetically characterized cohorts. His expertise lies in advanced signal processing and machine learning applied to physiological signals, with a particular emphasis on sleep physiology and brain function assessed via electroencephalography (EEG), to uncover mechanistic pathways linking early-life physiology to later autism outcomes.
Dr. Pini serves as a biomarker expert across several large-scale clinical and research initiatives, including the Prospective Genetic Risk Evaluation and Assessment (PROGRESS) Autism Center of Excellence at Columbia University, the HEALthy Brain and Child Development (HBCD) Study, and the Environmental influences on Child Health Outcomes (ECHO) Program, where physiological signals are characterized across development, beginning in the neonatal period.
He is deeply engaged with patient advocacy groups and family foundations, regularly participating in family meetings and community-facing initiatives. His work is driven by a commitment to developing scalable, low-burden approaches for physiological data collection both within and beyond traditional laboratory settings, with the goal of advancing early identification and intervention in autism.