Sex differences a rich field for UCLA multiple sclerosis researcher

As a child, Dr. Rhonda Voskuhl had terrible asthma, was often sick and had to get weekly allergy shots. She wondered why her body was so reactive to pollen, cats, wheat and eggs — her throat would swell, breathing became more difficult and her skin developed a rash. A frequent visitor to the doctor’s office, she had “a wonderful doctor who made me feel so much better.”It ’s no surprise, then, that Voskuhl grew up to become a doctor. Today, Voskuhl directs UCLA’s multiple sclerosis program and is the Jack H. Skirball professor of Multiple Sclerosis Research. She’s wrapping up one clinical trial and eager to start another, all while deepening her knowledge of mi croscopic mechanisms in multiple sclerosis through preclinical research in the lab.Because of her asthma, Voskuhl wanted to study autoimmune diseases, in which the body ’s immune system attacks healthy cells. These diseases include asthma, multiple sclerosis, lupus, inflammatory bowel disease and rheumatoid arthritis — most of which occur more often in women.Early in her career, there was little interest in the scientific community about why diseases might behave differently in men and women. She tells the anecdote of how, about 25 years ago, while conducting a mouse study as a postdoctoral fellow,  her supervisor told her to use only female mice for the experiment. Male mice were a waste of money, he told her, because they were less likely to get sick.“I said, ‘But that’s kind of interesting, i...
Source: UCLA Newsroom: Health Sciences - Category: Universities & Medical Training Source Type: news