Coupled with our observation that Nuak1 heterozygosity impairs brain development, cortical axon branching in vivo, and that NUAK1+/− mice have cognitive and social novelty defects strongly argues that Nuak1 loss-of-function mutations could be causally linked to neurodevelopmental disorders in humans and support targeted efforts to identify additional genetic alterations in the Nuak1 gene. This evidence concerns the gene NUAK1 and neurodevelopmental disorder.