Biological Basis of Sex Differences in the Healthy and Diseased Brain

Exploring sex differences in the brain is important for their impact and therapeutic implications for many neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases. For instance, females suffer more from mood disorders such as depression and anxiety, whereas males are more susceptible to Parkinson's disease (PD), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), schizophrenia, and autism. Better understanding of the biology underlying brain sex differences will be vital for designing novel therapeutic agents that will have optimal effectiveness in each sex. The current project will investigate the contribution of sex-specific genes (i.e. X- and Y-chromosome genes) and/or sex-hormones (e.g. oestrogen) on sex differences in neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and psychiatric disorders such as ADHD and schizophrenia, and autism. Approaches include animal models of neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases, iPSC models of neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases, stereotaxic neurosurgery, intracerebral drug administration, assessment of rodent behaviour neuroscience, neuroanatomy, qRT-PCR, immunohistochemistry, and electrophysiology.