The University of Idaho Argonaut

Paul Aikele, left, and Heather Bloom work in the Barker Bears and Bulls Trading Room in the J.A. Albertson building on Wednesday. Jake Barber/Argonaut

University of Idaho biologists are focusing their attention on women’s reproductive health by researching topics that were previously unexplored in their field.
Larry Forney, professor of biology, said “sexism is a very strong word,” but for too long men have been making the decisions of what to study, and Victorian ideals made women’s reproductive health unappealing.
That approach has led to holes in biology that Forney is attempting to close.

“Most research is for infectious disease … but there is still not enough,” said Xia Zhou, a research scientist in the biological sciences department.
Forney currently has four female undergraduate students researching women’s reproductive health, which could aid in finding out why diseases affect women the way they do.
“Women in science may help with women’s reproductive health,” Forney said.
Yi Shi, a graduate student from Shanghai, began doing research at UI relating to intrauterine devices, a method of birth control used mainly in developing countries by 160 million women. Forney said when looking at the protective methods of these countries, consideration has to be made for the different social climates.

“Social issues are a factor as well, and women may use birth control without their partner knowing,” Forney said.
Intrauterine devices work in one of two ways. Some contain copper, which acts as a spermicide and prevents fertilization of the egg. Others increase the production of mucus in the vagina, inhibiting the implantation of the fertilized egg into the wall of the uterus.
“(Intrauterine devices) are used because you don’t have to continually buy condoms and hormonal birth control, so there is no repeated cost,” Forney said.

The danger of these intrauterine devices is they can alter the bacterial community in the reproductive tract, shifting the pH and putting women at a higher risk for sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV, Zhou said.
“There are all kinds of issues with this,” Forney said. “Use of these devices have benefits with unintended consequence … I am constantly amazed at what isn’t known.”

The mechanism behind the bacterial protective role in reproductive-age women is well documented. Increased levels of estrogen, a hormone associated with female puberty, cause lactic acid to be produced, which increases the acidity in the vagina and protects against invasive microorganisms. However, the role of bacteria in the women’s reproductive system in pre-reproductive-age women and post-menopausal women remains a mystery.
Another thing that may spark curiosity among scientists is the Human Microbiome Project, a research project by the National Institute of Health focused on learning more about the bacteria that live in the human body, including those that live in the reproductive tract.

“Some reasons for studying women’s reproductive health are purely scientific,” Forney said. “Half or more are social implications.”
Forney and his associates are working to reduce HIV/AIDS, most new cases of which occur in African women through heterosexual sex. It is the leading killer of black women aged 24-34.

Infections that occur because of a lack of understanding do not have to be as dire as HIV/AIDS. Bacterial vaginosis, a condition where the acidity of the vagina decreases because of an imbalance in the bacterial population, is the leading reason women seek care from a general physician.
“Those are real issues for people who have those symptoms,” Forney said.