Inherent in research, is the simplification of a complex world into a testing space to explore cause and effect. Across preclinical research, questions are being raised on the testing space and whether it is too narrow. Within genomic studies, such as GWAS, significant issues have been raised that the underlying datasets are not ethnically diverse. Whilst within in vivo, in vitro and clinical research, a sex bias has been highlighted as culturally embedded in our working practices. In this talk, we will focus on the sex bias embedded in our research pipelines. There have been multiple calls for action, and the funders of biomedical research are actively pushing the inclusion of sex as a biological variable, yet little has changed in practice. We will first explore the current standard practice, why there is a movement to include females and why the imbalance exists.

Natasha Karp is an Associate Director within AstraZeneca leading the UK team of preclinical statisticians.  Natasha has sixteen years’ experience spanning biosensors, proteomics, drug-discovery and genotype-phenotype mapping and has worked in both commercial and academia settings. Her research has focused on three angles: firstly, to optimise the data analysis applied, then how best to design experiments and finally improving the reporting of the experiments conducted.