Collegium Helveticum
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Fellow Project 2022–2023

The Gendered Immune System
The Missing Component in Mental Health Research

Chloé’s fellowship project aimed at evaluating the complex interactions of sex and gender in immunity and depression in cis women, trans women, and cis men living with HIV. Sex and gender differences in brain health and immunity are remarkable, and recent findings have highlighted interplays between the immune system and the central nervous system.

Due to the multifactorial aspect of sex and gender differences in immunity and mental health, the approach in this project was to study a large cohort of participants (Swiss HIV Cohort Study) with detailed immunological and clinical longitudinal data and to use specific quantitative methods, such as Bayesian networks.