A SCOTTISH autism research centre has been given a £1 million boost by a businesswoman turned philanthropist whose late son had the condition.

Dame Stephanie Shirley, who made her fortune in the computer industry, has pledged the cash to the Patrick Wild Centre at Edinburgh University.

The German-born former businesswoman's son Giles suffered from autism and epilepsy, and the donation will go towards creating a state-of-the-art imaging suite which will enable scientists to study autism in new ways.

The Shirley Foundation is one of the top grant-giving foundations in the UK, with over £50m worth of grants awarded.

Dame Stephanie said: "Research has moved beyond looking at its [autism's] consequences to examine how biology, genetics and behaviour all link together.

"Results cannot be guaranteed but my hope is that this imaging suite will attract more quality researchers to focus on autism."

The Patrick Wild Centre for Research into Autism, Fragile X Syndrome and Intellectual Disabilities brings together university specialists who want to develop and test new treatments, having pinpointed how genetic changes cause the illness.

It was set up last year following donations to the university by graduate Dr Alfred Wild, and Gus Alusi and Reem Waines, a London-based couple whose six-year-old son, Kenz has Fragile X Syndrome, the most common inherited form of intellectual disability, and the most common known genetic cause of autism spectrum disorders.

The centre is named in memory of Dr Wild's brother Patrick, who was severely autistic.

Dr Andrew Stanfield, consultant psychiatrist and co-director of the centre, said: "We are incredibly grateful to Dame Stephanie for this generous gift which we hope will play a part in developing better treatments for people with autism and related disorders."

Dame Stephanie, who is in her late 70s, started the business technology group, Freelance Programmers, which eventually became Steria, with just £6, at her dining room table in 1962.

It sold computer software, and she called herself Steve to deflect attention from the fact she was a woman. She initially only employed women. She made £150m by selling her controlling interest in the firm and by its stockmarket floatation. She retired as president in 1993.

Dame Stephanie's story is even more remarkable as she arrived in Britain from Nazi Germany on a "Kindertransport" train full of unaccompanied child refugees, in 1939.

She has said her determination has been to prove that hers was a life worth saving.

She said: "My personal history is the main reason why I give. As a refugee, I need to justify the fact that my life was saved while so many others were lost. I've been the recipient of charity and have been sensitised to issues in a way that people who have always had enough money not to be hungry anyway find hard to imagine."

Giles died aged 35 in 1998 after suffering a seizure.

Dame Stephanie's organisation, the Shirley Foundation, is one of the top 50 grant-giving foundations in the UK, with £55m donated over the past few years, including setting up the Kingwood Trust project which provides care for adults with autism, a school for autistic children, and Autism Connect, the first web-user community to deal with autism issues.

She is also president of the charity, Autistica.

She said: "A large bank balance is all very nice, but like the 16th century philosopher Francis Bacon, I believe that 'money is like muck, not good except it be spread'.

"We are all children of society and so should give something back to the world our children will live in.

"Giving is a lifestyle, and it is not altruistic at all given that I get so much in return."

Dame Stephanie, who lives in Henley-on-Thames, was made a Dame in the Millennium honours list.

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