Summary: 

This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Andy Singleton, Program Lead of the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2), and Sonya Dumanis, COO of the Coalition for Aligning Science. They discuss the creation of GP2, how the initiative is closing representation gaps in genetics, and building global infrastructure and capacity for research.

Show Notes: 

0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast

00:59 Welcome to Sonya and Andy

01:50 Aims and overview of the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2)

03:15 The Aligning Science Across Parkinson’s (ASAP) initiative and how it led to the creation of GP2

04:37 Gaps in Parkinson’s genetics that inspired the creation of GP2

07:21 Closing the global representation gap in Parkinson’s genetics

08:37 ASAP’s model for long-term resources and adaptive funding

11:18 How GP2 overcame pandemic disruptions and data-sharing challenges to grow global capacity

15:01 Using harmonized data to compare Parkinson’s with other neurological diseases

17:02 Expanding GP2’s scope while keeping Parkinson’s at the core

18:42 Using genetics to guide targeted Parkinson’s therapeutics 

21:37 Early biomarkers beyond genetics including proteomics and alpha-synuclein seed amplification assay (SAA) to guide therapy timing

23:01 Adapting GP2 to incorporate new discoveries and build capacity for functional and longitudinal studies

26:54 Insights from GBA variants into gene expression and Parkinson’s risk biology

28:24 How GP2’s open access data can be used to power clinical trials and advance drug development

31:37 Lessons from GP2 on building sustainable global collaboration and capacity that can be applied across disease areas

36:10 Navigating global differences in genetic testing access, regulation, and return of results across the GP2 network

38:29 Building coalitions between philanthropy, nonprofits, and industry to sustain large-scale initiatives

41:09 The story behind the GP2 tattoos and the team spirit that fuels the program

42:23 Closing remarks

Find out more

• ASAP (https://parkinsonsroadmap.org/#)

• GP2 (https://gp2.org/)

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