OP: Good luck with your interview!
I dedicated a substantial amount of my undergrad time to autism, from summer internships to neuro research, so I can definitely say that it's a fascinating though stubbornly difficult field. I think the specific opportunities you have available to you will depend on your university and whether or not you go work for this PI, but just broadly speaking I hope that you will explore it beyond just bench research. Here are a few aspects that I find particularly exciting:
-The neuroscience, as you mentioned - evidence is scattered and inconclusive. This could mean it's difficult to get great results, but it's also more exciting... We are still in that immature, etiologically confused phase for autism and that means enormous progress can still be made for people doing research in that area. I think some of the neuropharmacology research could be cool, but it's all up to which papers you like better. If you don't like the PIs at your school or want to venture outside of their work, you might also consider hitting up some of the NIH PIs for a summer, although I've never done that personally so can't speak to how receptive they would be.
-The genetics - there's so much buzz nowadays surrounding personalized medicine in oncology, but I really think autism could be the next frontier. Its complexity and heterogeneity are so reminiscent of our early understanding of cancer, and with all the next gen sequencing and other genetic technology emerging, the field can get really exciting really quickly.
-The psychology - if you work in the psych side of autism you will get to work with actual autistic children and adults on a more hands-on way. I did this in freshman / sophomore year and loved it. There are a lot of psychological therapies/tools available to help these individuals and watching them make progress, albeit slowly, can be deeply rewarding and a great reminder of why you want to work in this field in the first place. Aspergers is an interesting subset that might be a good transition into this field if you are not completely comfortable with severely autistic individuals. There are group homes and therapy centers all over the country and lots of volunteering opportunities. Depending on what your school has, this is also a way to get involved with clinical research relating to autism.
-The policy - This is a niche interest for me and apologies if it sounds boring, but I think autism policy (and mental health policy in general) is a heartbreaking field, especially internationally. My hands-down most inspiring experience of all time came from a research/policy internship abroad where I got to work on autism advocacy and saw how much highfalutin, abstract policy work could affect families on a day-to-day basis (Question: how do you convince a government to fund personalized education for autistic children if there is barely adequate basic education to go around for neurotypical kids?). But just within the US, patients and families rely so much on community support and advocacy groups have really shaped the landscape of autism care today (just like oncology!)--which I'm sure you know from a personal perspective as well if you know any autistic individuals. Like the whole controversy on the definition of autism that has been in the media lately--how will borderline individuals gain access to the therapies and support programs that they probably need? How do we navigate wanting to accurately define a clinical syndrome and meeting the realistic needs of individuals from a social obligation perspective? There are so many difficult and fascinating questions!
-The drugs - Absent disease-modifying agents, we use psych meds to regulate and temper the symptoms of autism. As a result, children with different sets of symptoms receive different cocktails of regular psych meds for anxiety, hyperactivity, irritability, depression etc.etc. Some MDs think we can use these as clinical indicators for figuring out distinct subtypes of autism, others are skeptical and maintain that we just don't know enough to really help these kids medicinally. I encourage you to look into pharma and biotech's developing pipeline for autism--there are a few semi-interesting candidates, though nothing earth shattering.
As a psych/neuro major I find almost all of mental illness interesting, but autism is special in that it really points to a part of us that we consider incorrigibly human and essential to living in the human society. It is not like schizophrenia, which is more of a malfunction, or like addiction, which is more of an evolutionary flaw. Autism is a disorder that forces us to examine how we touch, love, and communicate with one another and it is insidiously tragic. I hope you stay interested in this field and good luck with your research!
