Sex differences

Whitehead Institute Member David Page and colleagues revisit the boundary of the pseudoautosomal region (PAR)—a critical region on the X and Y chromosomes where they exchange genetic information during sperm production—after outside research challenged its established location.

Whitehead Institute Member David Page and colleagues measured the effects of the sex chromosomes on two types of immune cells, gaining insights into the cell-type-specific effects of gene regulation by sex chromosome genes. Their work also explores the biological underpinnings of sex biases in immunity and autoimmune disease.

Neha Bokil is studying mechanisms that regulate expression of genes located on the X and Y chromosomes in order to better understand sex-biased conditions that predominantly affect one sex. Experience a typical day in her life as a graduate student — in video and text — and discover the driving force behind her passion for genetics.

Biological sex is a potent modifier of health. Yet, for decades, science has overlooked conditions that disproportionately affect women. Now researchers at Whitehead Institute are challenging the status quo and making strides to understand — and transform — key aspects of women’s health.

Whitehead Institute Member David Page and colleagues show that the X and Y chromosomes play a shared role as gene regulators. Genes on the sex chromosomes regulate thousands of genes on other chromosomes, affecting their expression throughout the body.

Whitehead Institute Member David Page and colleagues have discovered that the so-called inactive X chromosome contributes a lot more to gene expression—and gene regulation—than its name implies.

Research from Whitehead Institute Member David Page’s lab shows that the so-called inactive X chromosome, the mostly silent second X chromosome in females, plays a much more active role in gene expression and gene regulation than previously thought, with implications for how we think about sex differences in health and disease.

Jordana Bloom is a postdoc in Whitehead Institute Member David Page’s lab studying how hormonal changes during menopause affect gene expression throughout the body. We sat down with Bloom to learn more about her and her experiences in and out of the lab.

Rebecca Harris, a physician-scientist at Whitehead Institute’s Brit J. d’Arbeloff Center for Women’s Health, has received a prestigious funding award from the NIH’s Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women's Health (BIRCWH) program.