Dr Mie Rizig, Sir John Hardy, Candice King and Will Townley: Why is diversity in Parkinson’s research so important?

Unfortunately, please note you may be able to hear some
background noise or static during some parts of the recording.


In this episode of the G Word, Candice King, Patient and Public
Engagement Manager and Will Townley, Cohorts Manager who both
work at the Diverse Data initiative at Genomics England, are
joined by Dr Mie Rizig and Sir John Hardy, who both work at
University College London (UCL).


This podcast delves into a new paper published by Mie and John in
the Lancet Neurology. The paper describes a novel African
ancestry Parkinson's disease genetic risk factor. Our guests
discuss the need for diversity in genetic research, the key
findings from their study, and opportunities for future research
in Parkinson's disease.


 


You can read the full transcript here:
Diversity-in-Parkinsons-research.docx


 


“The number of people [in genomic research studies] from a white
background, Northern Europeans, is about 95%. The number of
people from an African background is only 0.2%. This is a
significant disparity. When [clinicians] want to translate this
into clinical practice, [they] think about: How will be able to
test those people sufficiently enough?”


 


The study was conducted by scientists from the UCL Queen Square
Institute of Neurology, London, the National Institutes of
Health, and the University of Lagos, Nigeria as part of the
Global Parkinson's Genomic Program (GP2). GP2 is supported by the
Aligning Science Across Parkinson's (ASAP) initiative and
implemented by The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's
Research (MJFF). The paper mainly included cohorts from:
The Nigerian Parkinson Disease Research Network, which is part
of the International Parkinson's Disease Genomics Consortium
(IPDGC) Africa, a collaboration of cohorts across 12 countries to
increase the scientific understanding of Parkinson's disease in
Africans. IPDGC Africa is funded in part by MJFF. The BLAAC PD
study is a cross-sectional study that collects blood or saliva
samples and clinical data from Black and African Americans. It is
funded by ASAP and implemented by MJFF. Most of the control
participants were obtained from 23andMe, a personal genetics
company that has assembled a sizable cohort of individuals who have
consented to contribute their data for use in various research
studies.