Facilities
The National Autism Center operates from ~150 sq m across seven rooms in the east wing of the Psychiatry Building at Soroka Medical Center.
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Behavioral Recording Suites (2): High-end audio/video (2–4 HD cameras) and a Kinect-based motion-tracking system for clinician–child assessments.
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Eye-Tracking Lab: EyeLink 1000 (head-free) dedicated to ASD research.
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Family Reception & Sampling: Child-friendly area for questionnaires and saliva collection (DNA/WES).
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Conference Room: Large shared space for Center meetings, the Autism Forum, and seminars.
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Additional Facilities: Access to research infrastructure across the BGU and Soroka campuses.
Administration & Management Offices
Located at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (Marcus Family Campus), Sam Gorovoy Building for Natural Sciences (Building 30), 2nd floor.
Along the Center’s hallway and conference room, an art exhibition by autistic artists and their families is on display.
The Center’s research leverages dedicated facilities across BGU and Soroka. Saliva DNA extraction is performed in Prof. Hava Golan’s lab, which is fully equipped for molecular biology workflows (protein assays, cell culture, fluorescence imaging). Overnight EEG recordings for children with ASD are conducted in the Soroka Sleep Lab (Director: Prof. Ariel Tarasiuk), which includes four private polysomnography rooms; one room is currently used weekly for autism research. MRI for children and adults with ASD is carried out at BGU’s Brain Imaging Research Center on a 3T Philips Ingenia scanner. Adult EEG studies use a BioSemi 128-channel system in a sound-attenuated, shielded room in Prof. Ilan Dinstein’s lab, which also maintains a 24-core super-computer for intensive neuroimaging analyses using a variety of advanced software tools. Clinical trials are supported by the Soroka Clinical Research Center, providing specimen and medication storage as well as offices and staff for study management. In addition, we routinely extract detailed information on pregnancy, birth, and early clinical history from Soroka’s electronic patient record systems, managed by the medical center’s computing department, to support longitudinal research.