Session moderated by Vinciane Pirenne-Delforge.
Each 30 minutepaperis followed by 10 minutes of discussion.
Sex is defined by genetics : from the moment of conception, it is the pair of sex chromosomes, XX, that defines a woman, and XY, that defines a man. Sex is binary and present in all our cells. Thus, sex is based on 104 genes specific to the chr Y, present only in men, and on around 25 % of X genes (350/1500), which are expressed in a single copy in men, but in two copies in women, escaping X inactivation. So you can't change sex. Then, from birth onwards, gender is constructed in the form of stereotypes rooted in society and in each individual under the influence of socio-cultural factors. Despite the confusion between the two terms, and even the denial of the role of sex, epigenetics, which incorporates the impact of the environment, reconciles the nature of these two notions, sex and gender. The arrangement of epigenetic marks on the genes involved in sex and gender results in sex-differential expression of more than a third of our genes, in networks in 44 tissues, including 11 brain tissues.
Claudine Junien is Professor Emeritus of Medical Genetics, PU-PH of the Paris-Ouest Faculty of Medicine, Paris Descartes University, then Paris-Saclay UVSQ (1988). She founded and directed the Inserm U383 research unit " Genetics, chromosomes and cancer " at Necker-Enfants malades Hospital, Paris (1993-2009). She then continued her research at INRAE, BDR, Jouy-en-Josas (2009-2024). On the hospital front, she created and then headed the hospital service for prenatal molecular diagnosis of hereditary disorders (1969-2003). She founded (2012) and was president (2012-2015) of the SF-DOHaD " Société francophone pour la recherche et l'éducation sur les origines développementales, environnementales et épigénétiques de la santé et des maladies ". Knight of the Order of Merit (1995) and of the Legion of Honor (2000), she is a corresponding member (2012-) of the French National Academy of Medicine. In 2023, with Nicole Priollaud, she published C'est votre sexe qui fait la différence (Plon).
