The overall aim of this working group is to diversify genetic research in ALS to include diverse, multi-ethnic populations to accurately represent ALS genetics-related disease risks in all populations.
Large genome wide association analyses have been performed on many thousands of genomes using microarrays and short-read whole-genome sequence data to discover new ALS genes. With every gene discovery, the next discovery becomes more difficult because the remaining genes are more likely to be rare or of small effect and were missed by previously used methods. There is a growing need to expand Project MinE in different parts of the world as most of the large-scale projects have been done in populations with homogeneous ancestry or in populations of low diversity, which might be useful in finding the genes most strongly involved, but is probably not enough to tackle an entire disease. The large and disproportionate genetic study of populations of European descent (96%), leaves very little room for understanding the diversity of ALS genetic architecture worldwide. Therefore, for the great benefit the Trans-Ancestral Genetics working group was created. The overall aim of this working group is to diversify genetic research in ALS to include diverse, multi-ethnic populations to accurately represent ALS genetics-related disease risks in all populations.
Chair / UK