Hormones and Nerves In Sex-Specific Physiology
Biological sex is one of nature's most robust variables. We are leveraging sex differences to discover how hormone-responsive nodes in the brain and peripheral tissues maintain metabolic, skeletal, and cognitive health. Findings from our research program are highly relevant to women's health.
- Project 1: We are actively searching for an anabolic factor that keeps bones young and strong in older female mice based on our findings that estrogen signaling in the brain profoundly increases bone mass (Herber, Krause, et al, 2019). With funding from NIA, we hope to open up new doors for treating bone frailty and osteoporosis.
- Project 2: After showing how estrogen triggers a pathway in the brain to increase physical activity in females (Krause et al, 2021 - See NYT Article), follow-up studies are aimed at defining this complex neural circuit. This work is highly relevant to metabolic decline that occurs in natural or drug-induced menopause and is funded by NIDDK and GCRLE.
- Project 3: In a project funded by NINDS, we have begun to map out gut-brain signaling pathways that exhibit sex-specific differences, which is highly relevant to the higher prevalence of intestinal visceral pain syndromes (IBS) experienced by women. Read our team's new study that defines EC cells as the major driver of gut pain in BioRxiv (In Revision).
Support Research For Wellness in Women
