Individual structural MRI studies fail to identify reproducible brain signatures for autism and other neuropsychiatric conditions, a new study finds. Structural MRI studies have long produced conflicting results. Until now, it was unclear whether such discrepancies reflected differences in study design and analysis, or whether structural brain signatures for these conditions do not exist. Repeating the analysis using cohorts characterized in this way could reveal more consistent brain signatures, she says. Rather than serving as a “standalone diagnostic tool, structural MRI will likely be most informative when integrated with genetics, molecular biology and longitudinal clinical data.”