El País – Guillermo Antiñolo, gynecologist and geneticist: “Women age at double speed due to the lack of estrogen”
The scientist develops the first female medical genome based on the specific biological condition to be mothers.
Women and men are biologically different and there is a lack of specific female models that allow us to identify unique biomarkers, genomic variants associated with a clinically useful trait, which explain, for example, causes of infertility, endometriosis and some types of cancer or specifically address stages such as pregnancy, climacteric or menopause. Identifying them would enable progress in terms of health, social and psychological well-being, as well as the efficiency of the health system.
With the collaboration of Clinics and the Ginemed Foundation, Dr. Guillermo Antiñolo’s team has gathered genetic material from 1,000 healthy women and has sequenced 300 in order to prepare the first medical genome of women. Images of female genomic variability will serve as a reference when addressing pathologies or physiological processes associated with her biological condition. There is still a lack of funding to complete this first phase, which involves “huge” applications.