Talk Summary:
The historical exclusion of female subjects from preclinical research is well documented, and neuroscience has been among the most resistant fields to change. For decades, the assumption that ovarian hormone fluctuations would introduce unwanted variability was used to justify male-only study designs, leaving a critical gap in our understanding of female brain physiology and its contribution to psychiatric disorder risk, one that remains largely unaddressed.
In this talk, Dr. Jaric will discuss how the ovarian reproductive cycle, and its natural or pharmacological disruption, drives changes in hippocampal molecular and structural plasticity in ways that may underlie female-specific vulnerability to anxiety and depression. She will further demonstrate how accounting for, or ignoring, ovarian hormone status critically affects reproducibility, generalizability, and translational relevance in sex-inclusive study designs. Finally, Dr. Jaric will outline strategies for including both sexes and accounting for endocrine state in preclinical rodent neuroscience research, to bring preclinical research closer to clinical practice and improve health outcomes for everyone.

Short bio: Dr. Ivana Jaric is a Group Leader at the Institute of Laboratory Animal Science, University of Zurich. Her research has two main focuses: developing evidence-based guidelines to make rodent studies that include both sexes more translationally relevant, and investigating the epigenetic mechanisms underlying female-specific susceptibility to psychiatric disorders, with a particular focus on the role of ovarian hormone status.