Fox Gene Determines Sexual Organs: ON or OFF!

"...may eventually remove the need for surgery in gender reassignment treatment." Imagine a doctor visit with threapist note in hand and leaving the office with a blue pill for Boy or pink pill Girl. Questioning may be a multicolor, who knows!

Gene that keeps females, female uncovered by ‘sex reversal’ in adult female miceGene that keeps females, female uncovered by ‘sex reversal’ in adult female mice.

Press release:

10 December 2009
By ‘turning off’ a gene Foxl2, scientist have seen ovary cells become more like testes’ in an adult mammal, according to new landmark research by the Medical Research Council (MRC) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL).

Scientists have shown that this single gene, which is found on a non-sex chromosome, is solely responsible for keeping the ovary as an ovary in adults and acts by directly suppressing the male-promoting gene Sox9. Using genetic tricks to turning off the gene Foxl2 in adult female mice, scientists made a dramatic change to cell types in the ovary, making them more closely resemble those in a testis. The cells produced testosterone and organised into structures resembling those responsible for sperm production (although sperm was not produced).

The research has wide-ranging implications for reproductive medicine and challenges several long held assumptions about sex determination; that female development happens by default, is fixed and relies solely on the X and Y chromosome. The Foxl2 gene was thought to be important for normal ovary development and for female fertility, but until now its role in maintaining the adult ovary, was unknown.

Dr Robin Lovell Badge, from the Medical Research Council’s, National Institute for Medical Research said:

“We take it for granted that we maintain the sex we are born with, including whether we have testes or ovaries. But this work shows that the activity of a single gene, Foxl2, is all that prevents adult ovary cells turning into cells found in testes. If it is possible to make these changes in adult humans it may eventually remove the need for surgery in gender reassignment treatment. If this does become possible, it’s likely that while treated individuals would make the right hormones for their new sex, fertility would be lost”.
Dr Mathias Treier, Group Leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory said:

“We were surprised by the results. We expected the mice to stop producing oocytes (eggs), but what happened was much more dramatic: somatic cells which support the developing egg took on the characteristics of the cells which usually support developing sperm, and the gender-specific hormone-producing cells also switched from a female to a male cell type.”
These findings could help to understand and eventually treat certain conditions affecting fertility and sexual development, such as the masculinising effects of menopause seen in some women and some cases of premature ovarian failure. It also offers for the first time the suggestion that fertility treatment options might be available for sex differentiation conditions in children with intersex conditions.

ENDS

Notes to editors:

1. “Somatic Sex Reprogramming of Adult Ovaries to Testes by FOXL2 Ablation” will be published in the Journal Cell.

2. For almost 100 years the Medical Research Council has improved the health of people in the UK and around the world by supporting the highest quality science. The MRC invests in world-class scientists. It has produced 29 Nobel Prize winners and sustains a flourishing environment for internationally recognised research. The MRC focuses on making an impact and provides the financial muscle and scientific expertise behind medical breakthroughs, including the first antibiotic penicillin, the structure of DNA and the lethal link between smoking and cancer. Today MRC funded scientists tackle research into the major health challenges of the 21st century

3. The European Molecular Biology Laboratory is a basic research institute funded by public research monies from 20 member states (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom) and associate member state Australia. Research at EMBL is conducted by approximately 80 independent groups covering the spectrum of molecular biology. The Laboratory has five units: the main Laboratory in Heidelberg, and Outstations in Hinxton (the European Bioinformatics Institute), Grenoble, Hamburg, and Monterotondo near Rome. The cornerstones of EMBL’s mission are: to perform basic research in molecular biology; to train scientists, students and visitors at all levels; to offer vital services to scientists in the member states; to develop new instruments and methods in the life sciences and to actively engage in technology transfer activities. EMBL’s International PhD Programme has a student body of about 170. The Laboratory also sponsors an active Science and Society programme. Visitors from the press and public are welcome.

Press contact: 020 7637 6011
press.office@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk

Filipino Transgender Woman Sass Rogando Sasot’s Inspirational speech at the UN

"Reclaiming the lucidity of our hearts"



Speech transcription courtesy of Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP)

“Opposing grave human rights violations
on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity”

ECOSOC Chamber, United Nations Headquarters, New York
Thursday, December 10th 2009 at 1.15 p.m. – 2.45 p.m


Let me begin by expressing my warmest gratitude to the Permanent Missions to the United Nations of Argentina, Brazil, Croatia, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden, and to the coalition of non-government organizations defending the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people. Thank you for making this event possible and for giving us this opportunity to contribute our voices to this ongoing conversation for change. Our esteemed participants, beautiful beings, and profound expressions of this Universe, a warm, vibrant, and dignified afternoon to each and every one of you!

Burned at stake. Strangled and hanged. Raped and shot and stabbed to death. Throats slashed. Left to bleed to death. These are just some of the ways transgender people were killed in different parts of the world, in different times in the history of humanity. These are just the tip, the violent tip, of the iceberg of our suffering. I can go on and on, reciting a litany of indignity upon indignity, but my time is not enough to name all the acts of atrocious cruelty that transgender people experience. But what is the point of counting the dead bodies of our fellow human beings, of narrating how we suffer, and of opposing violence against us if we don’t challenge the root of our oppression?

The sincerity of our intention to address the human rights violations against transgender people rests upon the depth of our appreciation of human diversity and the breadth of our understanding of why transgender people suffer these indignities.

The root of our oppression is the belief that there is only one and only one way to be male or female. And this starts from our birth. Upon a quick look on our genitals, we are assigned into either male or female. This declaration is more than just a statement of what’s between our legs. It is a prescription of how we should and must live our lives. It is a dictation of what we should think about ourselves, the roles we should play, the clothes we should wear, the way we should move, and the people with whom we should have romantic or erotic relationships. But the existence of people whose identities, bodies, and experiences do not conform to gender norms is a proof that this belief is wrong.

Nonetheless, even though the truth of human diversity is so evident and clear to us, we choose to hang on to our current beliefs about gender, a belief that rejects reality and forces people to live a lie. This is the belief that leads to attacks on our physical and mental integrity, to different forms of discrimination against us, and to our social marginalization. This is the belief that led to Joan of Arc to be burned at stake because she was cross-dressing. This is the belief that motivated the rape and murder of Brandon Teena on December 31, 1993. This is the belief that led to the stabbing to death of Ebru Soykan, a prominent transgender human rights activist in Turkey, on March 10, 2009. This is the belief that led to the arrest of 67 Filipino workers in Saudi Arabia for cross-dressing in June this year. This is the belief that keeps the list of transgender people being harassed, killed, and violated growing year after year. And it is very unfortunate that our legal systems, religions, and cultures are being used to justify, glorify, and sanctify the violent expressions of this belief.

So we question: Is human life less precious than this belief? Is our right to life, to dignified existence, to liberty, and pursuit of happiness subservient to gender norms? This doesn’t need a complicated answer. You want to be born, to live, and die with dignity – so do we! You want the freedom to express the uniqueness of the life force within you – so do we! You want to live with authenticity – so do we!

Now is the time that we realize that diversity does not diminish our humanity; that respecting diversity does not make us less human; that understanding and accepting our differences do not make us cruel. And in fact, history has shown us that denying and rejecting human variability is the one that has lead us to inflict indignity upon indignity towards each other.

We are human beings of transgender experience. We are your children, your partners, your friends, your siblings, your students, your teachers, your workers, your citizens.

Let our lives delight in the same freedom of expression that you enjoy as you manifest to the outside world your unique and graceful selves.

Let us live together in the fertile ground of our common humanity for this is the ground where religion is not a motivation to hate but a way to appreciate the profound beauty and mysteries of life;

for this is the ground where laws are not tools to eliminate those who are different from us but are there to facilitate our harmonious relationship with each other;

for this is the ground where culture is not a channel to express the brutality of our limited perception but a means to express the nobility of our souls;

for this is the ground where the promise of the universality of human rights can be fulfilled!

And we will be in this ground if we let the sanity of our desires, the tenacity of our compassion, and above all, the lucidity of our hearts to reign in our lives.

Thank you!

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by: Sass Rogando Sasot, transgender activist, Society of Transsexual Women of the Philippines (STRAP)
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Links to the entire webcast:

In English: Click Here

En español: haga clic aquí



Special thanks to: bird of paradox, UK for writing about this and to Stephanie Stevens for posting this on Transgender News and helping to give this incredible speech the attention it deserves. Thank you.