Still, vast parts of human biology remain unexplored and untouched. Not because we don’t understand their importance, but because we haven’t had the tools to reach them. That limitation is exactly what a new startup, based on UC Irvine research, hopes to overcome.

By the time most families receive a formal autism diagnosis, the most important window for intervention has closed. In the first years of life, a child’s brain forms more than a million new neural connections every second. This is a burst of neurological development that’s never repeated in our lives. This period is short, and once it’s over, the opportunity to intervene at the brain’s most malleable stage is gone. That missed window isn’t just a personal loss for families; it’s a failure of the current system. It’s this fleeting, foundational period that NeuroQure, a biotech company grounded in UC Irvine research, is trying to give back.

“Our goal is simple,” says Dave Justus, founder and CEO of NeuroQure. “We want to shorten the time to meaningful treatment.”

It’s a bold goal and perhaps one of the most consequential in pediatric neurodevelopment today. NeuroQure’s flagship product, ASD Insight, is the first clinical-grade, biology-based test designed to identify autism risk years earlier than traditional behavioral assessments. The current gold-standard for autism assessment is the Autism Diagnostic Observation Schedule (ADOS), a careful and labor-intensive evaluation based on how a child speaks, plays, and interacts. But these behaviors often don’t emerge clearly until age two or later. And after that come the waitlists. It’s often months, or sometimes years, before parents receive a formal diagnosis, and longer still before therapies begin. By then, the brain’s most flexible, formative stage is already closing.

This makes early screening especially important for families with a known history of autism, since genetics often play a key role. Because of this genetic link, if one child in a family is diagnosed with autism, the chances that a sibling will also be diagnosed are significantly higher. In the general population, about 1 in 36 children are diagnosed with autism. But for families with one autistic child, the likelihood that a sibling will also be diagnosed can rise to 1 in 5. This elevated risk is why early screening for younger siblings is often recommended, even before any behavioral signs appear.

“The science is really clear,” Justus explains. “If you can intervene by age two with occupational, physical, and speech therapy, it’s possible to increase a child’s IQ by 17 points. That could be the difference between special education and general education. That difference could be life changing.”

With ASD Insight, families can access risk information as early as birth. The test measures a biophysical marker, a measurable signal in the body that shows how cells are functioning (or not functioning) at the molecular level. Unlike genetic tests, which examine inherited DNA, biophysical markers reveal how the body is operating. NeuroQure’s test focuses on how cells process calcium, an element that plays a critical role in brain signaling, energy production, and early cognitive development.

The process starts with a small skin sample, typically a 3mm biopsy or discarded foreskin after circumcision. Scientists grow skin cells from that sample and measure how calcium moves in and out of the cells. In people with a higher likelihood of autism, those calcium signals tend to be weaker or disrupted. Research suggests this may reflect a form of metabolic stress in the brain, something that occurs long before behavioral symptoms emerge. The result is a biological snapshot that provides a way to assess autism risk years before symptoms typically emerge.

A Parent’s Perspective
For Justus, the motivation behind NeuroQure is personal. Before launching the company in 2023, he built a career scaling private equity–backed businesses. But at home, the challenges were different. His son, Tyler, had been diagnosed with Fragile X syndrome, a genetic condition that affects learning and development and is often associated with autism. His family’s experience revealed just how slow and fragmented the path to diagnosis and treatment can be.

Justus launched NeuroQure with the hope to change the timeline of care for children with neurodevelopmental disorders. Like many families, the Justuses spent years navigating what he calls a “diagnostic odyssey,” searching for answers about their son’s developmental delays. By the time they received a diagnosis, the most effective window for early support had already passed. The process wasn’t just slow; it was misaligned with how the brain actually develops. Justus saw a system that waited for visible symptoms, then made families wait again. NeuroQure was his attempt to change that, combining what he knew from building companies with what he had learned as a parent.

“That experience had a profound effect on me,” Justus says. “And when I saw the science that would become NeuroQure, it felt like more than an opportunity. It felt like a responsibility.”

After Tyler was diagnosed, Justus began raising money for autism research through a nonprofit he founded. That work led him to UC Irvine and to Professor Emeritus John Jay Gargus, from the Department Physiology and Biophysics, a longtime researcher of cellular signaling in autism and founding director of UC Irvine’s Center for Autism Research and Translation. Gargus’s emphasis on biology over behavior offered a rare approach in autism research. For Justus, the real breakthrough was seeing how that science could be applied in a meaningful way.

“That combination of academic depth and clinical relevance is rare,” Justus says. “It was something we could build into a tool to help families.”