Research in the Lucas Lab is driven by a passion to improve women’s health across the lifespan. Compared to men, women exhibit increased susceptibility to stress-related psychiatric illnesses (i.e., post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety disorder, and major depressive) and Alzheimer’s disease. Epidemiological data strongly implicate ovarian hormones as key drivers in these sex differences. For example, women’s increased susceptibility to stress-related disorders occurs primarily during years of reproductive viability, and presentation of these disorders is regulated across the menstrual cycle with high levels of estradiol at midcycle associated with decreased symptom severity. On the other hand, loss of ovarian function at menopause leads to a unique midlife aging trajectory in women that increases risk for Alzheimer’s disease. However, the historical exclusion of female subjects from preclinical research has hindered our progress in elucidating the biological mechanisms underlying these sex differences in disease incidence. Our laboratory utilizes a multifaceted, systems-based approach that combines in vivo behavioral manipulations with ex vivo electrophysiological, transcriptional, anatomical, and endocrinological analyses in mouse models to dissect the neurobiological mechanisms underlying sex differences in behavior and pathology relevant to these illnesses at the levels of the cell and the circuit. This research seeks to expand upon previous research conducted by ourselves and others, in hopes of attaining novel therapeutic targets for these devastating illnesses disproportionally experienced by women, for which there are currently limited effective treatments and no cures.
