On September 12, delegates from 60 research sites and 23 countries will converge on the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health (DMCBH) as part of the ninth annual Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson’s Disease (GEO-PD) meeting. Hosted by Dr. Matt Farrer and the Centre for Applied Neurogenetics, this meeting brings together international collaborators and integrates neurology, neuroscience and neurogenetics.
“This meeting will be an opportunity to announce proposals and garner support for future research, including next-generation sequencing, which identifies the genetic variants responsible for disease susceptibility, progression and drug response,” says Dr. Farrer. “Understanding this contribution to brain health and disease is a major goal for DMCBH, as genetic information provides a solid foundation for translational neuroscience, for patient diagnosis and prognosis, and improved clinical trials.”
GEO-PD is an international consortium of investigators whose focus includes Parkinson’s and related neurologic and neurodegenerative diseases. Their work is collaborative; between 60 different research institutes and centres across the globe, GEO-PD shares clinical data and DNA samples for nearly 42,000 Parkinson’s patients and over 41,000 healthy subjects.
“Hosting the 9th Annual GEO-PD meeting is an honour, and an opportunity to showcase the neurology, neurogenetics, neuroscience and imaging capabilities of DMCBH to an international audience,” says Dr. Farrer.
About the Centre for Applied Neurogenetics (CAN)
With a focus on genetic analysis of typical, late-onset Parkinson’s disease, the CAN team discovers genetic factors that enhance disease susceptibility. Main research methods include clinical studies, multimodal neuroimaging, and molecular neurogenetics.
