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
Sex differences in amyloid PET in a large, real-world sample from the Imaging Dementia–Evidence for Amyloid Scanning (IDEAS) Study
Abu Raya M, Zeltzer E, Blazhenets G, Schonhaut DR, Allen IE, Carrillo MC, Gatsonis C, Hanna L, Hillner BE, Iaccarino L, March A, Mundada NS, Perez JM, Smith K, Yballa C, Siegel BA, Windon C, Whitmer RA, Kaitlin C, La Joie R, Rabinovici GD. (2025) Alzheimer’s and Dementia, 21 (5), art. no. e70304
Sex differences in the clinical manifestation of autosomal dominant frontotemporal dementia
Memel M, Staffaroni AM, Ilan-Gala I, Castro JG, Kornak J, Tartaglia CM, … Ghoshal N, … Snyder A, Boxer AL, Rosen HJ, Casaletto K; ALLFTD Consortium. (2025) Alzheimer’s and Dementia, 21 (4), art. no. e14630
Sex differences in clinical phenotypes of behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia
Liu X, de Boer SCM, Cortez K, Poos JM, …, Ghoshal N, …Pijnenburg YAL, Rohrer JD, Tartaglia MC; ALLFTD Consortium and the GENFI Consortium. (2025) Alzheimer’s and Dementia, 21 (4), art. no. e14608
Asynchronous development of the mouse auditory cortex is driven by hemispheric identity and sex
Reid AP, Neophytou D, Levy R, Pham C, Oviedo HV. (2025) Nature Communications, 16 (1), art. no. 3654
Longitudinal Associations Between Peritraumatic Oestradiol and Fear Responding in Women and Men
Ellis RA, Webber TK, Noble NC, Linnstaedt SD, Hinrichs R, Wiltshire C, Reda MH, Davie W, House SL, … McLean SA, Stevens JS, Jovanovic T, Seligowski AV. (2025) Stress and Health, 41 (2), art. no. e3522