Precision Medicine and Diversity in PD: Lessons from the GEoPD and the path ahead
Join us in 2025 in Tuebingen as we mark the 20th anniversary of the Genetic Epidemiology of Parkinson’s disease (GEoPD). We will discuss how individualized strategies can embrace patient variability and drive more effective treatments.
For two decades, GEoPD’s global outreach has united clinicians, geneticists, data scientists, and other experts across 60 sites in 30 countries. This inclusive network fosters open collaboration, sharing region-specific insights and expanding our collective ability to identify genetic variations and novel therapeutic targets. Everyone’s contribution strengthens the mission to transform PD care.
Over the years, our decentralized and democratic model has safeguarded continuity and nurtured fresh leadership. Building on a shared repository of 41,988 PD cases and 41,505 control subjects, we have created a robust infrastructure for research breakthroughs. Key achievements include:
- Establishing standardized protocols and data-sharing practices
- Accelerating discovery of genetic risk factors and biomarkers
- Fostering a global community of dedicated PD researchers
Program: Day 1
11th June | 15.00 | Tuebingen Tour for the participants |
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| 18:00 | Welcome drinks | ||
| 19:00 | Steering committee dinner | ||
12th June | 08:00‑08:45 | Registration |
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| 08:45‑09:00 | Welcome | ||
Session 1 | 09:00‑10:30 | Genomics and Epidemiology |
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| Sonja Scholz | USA | 09:00‑09:30 | Leveraging genomics to advance precision medicine: lessons from Lewy body dementia |
| Alexis Elbaz | France | 09:30‑10:00 | Strengthening causal inference in Parkinson's disease research: triangulation of evidence" |
| Huw Morris | UK | 10:00‑10:30 | Genotype-Phenotype analysis |
| 10:30‑11:00 | Coffee/Tea Break | ||
Session 2 | 11:00‑12:30 | Biomarkers and PD |
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| Brit Mollenhauer | Germany | 11:00‑11:30 | Biomarker for Parkinson‘s disease to support prevention trials |
| Nicolas Cuena | Spain | 11:30‑12:00 | From Eye to Brain: The Retina as a early Parkinson’s Disease Biomarker |
| Günther Höglinger | Germany | 12:00‑12:30 | Biomarker-based diagnosis of PD. Where do we stand? |
| 12:30‑14:00 | Lunch/Poster | ||
Session 3 | 14:00‑15:30 | DBS and PD |
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| Andreas Horn | USA | 14:00‑14:30 | Causal Mapping: From Connectomic Deep Brain Stimulation toward the 'Human Dysfunctome' |
| Aikaterini Markopoulou | USA | 14:30‑15:00 | STN DBS, disease etiology and progression: what is the connection |
| Jens Volkmann | Germany | 15:00‑15:30 | Can deep brain stimulation modify the course of Parkinson’s disease |
| 15:30‑16:00 | Coffee/Tea Break | ||
Session 4 | 16:00‑17:30 | Mechanisms and Therapeutics |
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| Claudio Franceschi | Italy | 16:00‑16:30 | Brain/Peripheral Inflammaging and Parkinson's Disease |
| Shohreh Issazadeh-Navikas | Denmark | 16:30‑17:00 | Damaged mitochondrial DNA as a result of immune disturbances can spread Parkinson’s Disease Dementia |
| Dario Alessio | UK | 17:00‑17:30 | Regulation and Function of the LRRK2 Pathway |
| 19:00 | Gala Dinner |
Program: Day 2
Session 5 | 08:30‑11:00 | GEoPD and Diversity |
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| John Ioannidis | USA | 08:30‑09:00 | Genetics, genomics, and precision medicine: towards making an impact" |
| Wael Mohamad | Egypt/Malaysia | 09:00‑09:30 | AfrAbia PD Genomic Consortium: The alternative to despair is to build an ark |
| Morenikeji Komolafe | Nigeria | 09:30‑10:00 | Sleep Disturbances in Patients with Parkinson's Disease in Ile-Ife, South Western Nige |
| Marieke Dekker | Tanzania | 10:00‑10:30 | A bird's eye on Parkinson's and Genetics in East Africa |
| Sun Ju Chung | South Korea | 10:30‑11:00 | Mitochondrial DNA copy number as a potential biomarker for Parkinson’s disease: Whole genome sequencing study |
| 11:00‑11:30 | Coffee/Tea Break | ||
Session 6 | 11:30‑13:00 | Patients world vs scientific world: Hope, challenges and the path ahead |
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| Eduardo Tolossa | Spain | 11:30‑12:00 | Biomarker based diagnosis of Parkinson disease |
| Dennis Dickson | USA | 12:00‑12:30 | Neuropathology of parkinsonian syndromes |
| Zbigniew Wszolek | USA | 12:30‑13:00 | CSF1R-Related Disorder |
| 13:00‑14:00 | Lunch | ||
Session 7 | 14:00‑16:30 | Data blitz/GEoPD outreach |
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| 16.30‑17:00 | Break | ||
Session 8 | 17:00‑18:30 | PD funding and patients (converging interests or widening gap) |
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| Frédéric Destrebecq | Belgium | 17:00‑17:30 | Rethinking the care pathway for people with PD and closing the treatment gap – meeting patients’ needs and yielding economic benefits |
| Amelia Hursey | UK | 17:30‑18:00 | Parkinson's Europe, connecting the voice of the Parkinson's community in Europe and sharing it globally. |
| Brian Fiske | USA | 18:00‑18:30 | MJFF’s Strategic Research Agenda and Current Priorities |
Concluding remarks |
We truly appreciate your support in advancing PD research outreach and developing more effective treatment strategies.
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