Sex and Circuits: A Systems Spproach for the Identification of Disease States and Novel Targets

The Women’s Health Seminar Series features multidisciplinary research on women’s health. The goal of the series is to provide multidisciplinary training and mentorship to faculty, students, and community members across a broad range of women’s health research topics. Speakers will present their research regarding the biological, psychological, behavioural, economic and social impacts on women’s health outcomes through a 45 minute talk and engage with attendees in an interactive 15 minute question and answer period. The series is open to anyone interested in attending!

Presenter: Dr. Melissa L. Perreault, Associate Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences & Adjunct Professor, Department of Integrative Biology, University of Guelph

Talk Summary: Neuronal oscillations, or brain waves, are highly coupled to behavioural states and are emerging as potential biomarkers of neuropsychiatric disorders and therapeutic drug efficacy. Sexual dimorphisms in brain wave patterns and their contribution to sex-specific behaviours in these disorders are poorly understood. In this talk, Dr. Perreault will discuss sex-specific brain wave patterns in rodent model systems of depression and autism spectrum disorders and will address some of the challenges and mistakes she made along the way, highlighting the need for inclusivity of both sexes in preclinical and translational systems research.