The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) has set an initiative in motion that intents to banish a biomedical research bias toward the use of male animal models and cells in preclinical studies.

Approximately $10 million has been approved, in addition to existing grants, to fund 82 research teams that will be assessing the impact of subject sex on study outcomes and ways to equalize the research bench for more accurate and comprehensive animal modeling.

"It is designed to be a catalyst for considering sex as a fundamental variable in research," said Janine Clayton, director of the NIH Office of Research on Women's Health, in this Reuters report. "We're asking one simple question: What effect does sex have in the context of your research?"