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

Behind the Genes

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.