There is much to learn about the biology underlying sex and gender development, and how sex differences result in higher or lower incidences of disease and responses to treatments. Check these links to learn about WashU investigators who study sex differences, published findings, and additional resources related to sex and gender.
Glossary
- Assigned sex: determination made at a person’s birth based on an infant’s anatomy and/or sex chromosomes.
- Cisgender: when one’s gender identity and assigned sex coincide with societal norms (e.g., man and male).
- Gender identity: a label used to describe one’s identity within a given society’s understanding of gender.
- Nonbinary: a person who does not subscribe to conventional gender categories but identifies with neither, both, or a combination of genders. Related terms include genderqueer, gender fluid, and more.
- Transgender: when gender identity and sex do not coincide with societal norms.
*from Rubin JD, Atwood S, Olson KR, “Studying Gender Diversity” (2020), Trends in Cognitive Sciences
Resources
Nature, Collection of opinion articles on sex and gender in research
- “Sex and gender in science: How to navigate a challenging area of research to the benefit of all” (2024)
National Academies Consensus Study Report
Commentaries on sex and gender in neuroscience research
- “Neuroscience and Sex/Gender: Looking Back and Forward” | The Journal of Neuroscience (Viewpoints), 2020
- “Studying Gender Diversity” | Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 2020
- “Reporting and misreporting of sex differences in the biological sciences” | eLife, 2021
From the 2019 Transgender Spectrum Conference
Publications from WashU authors
Self-regulated analgesia in males but not females is mediated by endogenous opioids
Dean JG, Reyes M, Oliva V, Khatib L, Riegner G, Gonzalez N, Posey G, Collier J, Birenbaum J, Chakravarthy K, Wells RE, Goodin B, Fillingim R, Zeidan F. (2024) PNAS Nexus, 3 (10), art. no. page 453
Opioid use disorder risk alleles in self-reported assigned African American/Afro-Caribbean and European biogeographical genetic ancestry groups and in males and females
Sprague JE, Freiermuth CE, Lambert J, Braun R, Frey, JA, Bachmann DJ, Bischof JJ, Beaumont L, Lyons MS, Pantalon MV, Punches BE, Ancona R, Kisor DF. (2024) Pharmacogenomics Journal
Relationship between sex biases in gene expression and sex biases in autism and Alzheimer’s disease
Fass SB, Mulvey B, Chase R, Yang W Selmanovic D, Chaturvedi SM, Tycksen E, Weiss LA, Dougherty JD. (2024) Biology of Sex Differences, 15 (1), art. no. 47
Sex Differences in Response Inhibition–Related Neural Predictors of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder in Civilians With Recent Trauma
Borst B, Jovanovic T, House SL, Bruce SE, Harnett NG, Roeckner AR, Ely TD, Lebois LAM, Young D, Beaudoin FL, An X, Neylan TC, Clifford GD, Linnstaedt SD, Germine LT, Bollen KA, Rauch SL, Haran JP, Storrow AB, Lewandowski C, Musey PI Jr, Hendry PL, Sheikh S, Jones CW, Punches BE, Hudak LA, Pascual JL, Seamon MJ, Datner EM, Pearson C, Peak DA, Domeier RM, Rathlev, NK, O’Neil BJ, Sergot P, Sanchez LD, Harte SE, Koenen KC, Kessler RC, McLean SA, Ressler KJ, Stevens JS, van Rooij SJH. (2024) Biological Psychiatry: Cognitive Neuroscience and Neuroimaging
Sex Differences in Dystonia
Kilic-Berkmen G, Scorr LM, McKay L, Thayani M, Donsante Y, Perlmutter JS, Norris SA, Wright L, Klein C, Feuerstein JS, Mahajan A, Wagle-Shukla A, Malaty I, LeDoux MS, Pirio-Richardson S, Pantelyat A, Moukheiber E, Frank S, Ondo W, Saunders-Pullman R, Lohman K, Hess EJ, Jinnah HA. (2024) Movement Disorders Clinical Practice