Some forum members have expressed difficulty in accessing our 2021-2022 POIS-study’s newspaper article link, so here is a text version of that 2019 article.
Crowdfunded [from POISCenter forum members!] grant will help UNL researcher study sex-related condition [POIS] By CHRIS DUNKER Lincoln Journal Star Jun 26, 2019 Updated Jun 27, 2019
Dr. Tierney Lorenz, our
POISCenter-funded
Research Study 2021-2022
Principal Investigator
Hundreds of millions of dollars slated for research flow into the University of Nebraska-Lincoln each year from federal agencies like the National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Multimillion-dollar research projects that center on creating new materials that will make computers even faster or to study drug addiction in rural areas are a large part of UNL's $308 million in research expenditures this year.
But there are also research grants that fly under the radar while also advancing understanding of the human condition.
Take a recent grant awarded to UNL researcher and assistant professor of psychology Tierney Lorenz from the National Organization of Rare Disorders [NORD] to study a little-known condition affecting men following ejaculation.
Through a crowdfunded grant totaling $31,000, Lorenz and California-based neuroscientist and sex researcher Nicole Prause will study post-orgasmic illness syndrome, or POIS, the rapid onset of flu-like symptoms in men at the conclusion of sex.
"It's a fairly rare condition, and it hasn't gotten much clinical attention," Lorenz said of the disease, which is commonly marked by coughing and sneezing, sore throats and stuffy noses as well as other physical symptoms.
Some men have reported cognitive difficulties such as a loss of attention span or memory loss. Symptoms can last for a few hours or as long as a week, Lorenz added.
“It's not life-threatening in any way, but these guys can get pretty sick, and the flu can take a big chunk out of their life," she said.
An online community for men who suffer from the disorder raised the funds and worked with the nonprofit National Organization for Rare Disorders [NORD] in asking for research proposals. Lorenz and Prause's study of the "Autonomic, endocrine, and immune mediators of post-orgasmic illness syndrome" was accepted earlier this year.
The researchers believe a better understanding of the disorder could further larger insight into the physiology of the human orgasm, which could improve sexual health for all, even those without the condition.
It also signals a new track of research at UNL. Lorenz, who just completed her first year on faculty, is the director of the Women, Immunity and Sexual Health lab, which studies how sexual behavior in women affects their immune and endocrine functions, while also providing help to survivors of sexual trauma through basic science and clinical research.
Lorenz, as well as Prause, previously conducted research at the Kinsey Institute at Indiana University Bloomington, where she studied the suppression of women's immune systems during ovulation -- an evolutionary change to prevent the immune system from attacking sperm cells or a zygote -- and whether sexual activity modulates that suppression.
She said the forthcoming POIS study, which will largely take place in Prause's lab in California, is a continuation of her work understanding the larger immune effects of the sexual response cycle.
"It's a really rare condition in which the whole system kind of goes haywire," Lorenz said, "but when we understand how something breaks down, it also helps us understand how it works.”
Dr. Nicole Prause
POISCenter-funded NORD Study’s researcher/co-Investigator
