️ Episode 125: Tackling a disease on a global scale, the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program, GP2: A new generation of opportunities

In this episode of PaperCast Base by Base, we explore how the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2) is addressing the critical lack of diversity in Parkinson’s disease genetics research. The article outlines the program’s mission to establish a global hub for recruitment, data generation, and collaborative discovery, while reflecting on five years of progress.

Study Highlights:
The authors describe the complex challenges of building a sustainable and equitable international research collective to study Parkinson’s disease genetics. GP2 has partnered with 275 research groups worldwide, with over 265,000 subjects committed to the program, and emphasizes the importance of transparency, training, and democratization of data. The article details GP2’s operational priorities, including capacity building in underrepresented populations, development of new infrastructure, and implementation of training programs that support the next generation of scientists. By harmonizing and openly sharing clinical and genetic data, GP2 has already facilitated new discoveries, such as ancestry-specific risk variants, and continues to expand the scope of Parkinson’s research globally.

Conclusion:
This work demonstrates how global collaboration and equitable research practices can accelerate genetic discoveries in Parkinson’s disease and pave the way for precision medicine worldwide.

Reference:
Blauwendraat, C., Noyce, A. J., Mata, I. F., Screven, L. A., Solle, J., Dumanis, S. B., Riley, E. A., Periñan, M. T., Okubadejo, N., Klein, C., Morris, H. R., Singleton, A. B., and the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2). Tackling a disease on a global scale, the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program, GP2: A new generation of opportunities. The American Journal of Human Genetics (2025). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajhg.2025.07.014

License:
This episode is based on an open-access article published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) – https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Support:
If you'd like to support Base by Base, you can make a one-time or monthly donation here: https://basebybase.castos.com/