Objective: GP2’s Underrepresented Populations Working Group (WG) was created for individuals working within underrepresented/underserved populations to join forces to increase global representation and decipher the genetic factors associated with Parkinson’s disease (PD) in non-European populations.

Background: The Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2) is an ambitious project that aims to provide an exceptional understanding of the genetic architecture of PD. The lack of diversity in published genetic studies is a critical challenge to overcome, and therefore one of GP2’s primary goals is to recruit at least 50,000 participants from underrepresented/underserved populations worldwide over the next 5 years.

Method: Our WG comprises clinicians and researchers from different regions, including Latin America, Africa, India and East Asia. We hold fortnightly meetings to share ideas and needs and align our goals. Our work includes recruiting people with PD, including large families, and ethnically matched healthy controls from underrepresented/underserved populations. We are also working closely with other GP2 WGs such as the Complex Disease Data Analysis WG to develop the analytical tools necessary to deal with our different and complex genetic admixture.

Results: Strategies for collaborative data upload, access, and analysis are making it possible to perform projects such as a trans-ethnic meta-analysis and fine-mapping, involving a diversity of researchers, resources, and data from Latin American, African, Asian, and European populations. Another essential part of our mission is to support the development of sustainable local clinical and analytical expertise by providing resources such as training opportunities for local researchers, facilitated by close collaboration with GP2’s Training WG and GP2‐supported cloud computing enabling complex analysis in areas with limited access to computing resources.

Conclusion: We envision a future where  diverse collaboration, together with democratizing data, leads to a better understanding of PD genetics among communities currently underserved in research while empowering local researchers.

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MDS Abstracts - https://www.mdsabstracts.org/abstract/the-global-parkinsons-genetics-program-gp2-underrepresented-populations-working-group/