HARTFORD, Conn. (WTNH) — One in ten women suffer from a condition called endometriosis.
The disease causes endometrial tissue to grow outside the uterus, which causes pain and reproductive issues, according to the CDC.

Now, a new medical partnership aims to learn more about the condition. State lawmakers have passed a bill to advance medical findings and expand education on the disease.

The bill involves a partnership between UConn Health and Jackson Laboratory — allowing for more research and data collection about the hard-to-diagnose disease.

“[Endometriosis] doesn’t have a very easy way to be diagnosed using, for example, a blood sample so we don’t have diagnosed so we don’t have biomarkers at this point that can inform if we have the condition or not,” said Elise Courtois ph.D., an endometriosis researcher at Jackson Laboratories.

The first-of-its-kind program aims to make Connecticut a national hub for endometriosis research.