South Kazakhstan Medical Academy Presents Its Contribution at the GP2 Global Meeting on Parkinson’s Disease Genetics

Honolulu, Hawaii — October 2025

From October 3 to 4, 2025, the annual meeting of the Global Parkinson’s Genetics Program (GP2) was held in Honolulu (Hawaii, USA). GP2 is the world’s largest international platform that brings together scientists, clinicians, and researchers from over 70 countries. The central theme of the forum was global genetic studies of Parkinson’s disease, the advancement of functional genomics, and the expansion of participation from underrepresented countries in science.
During the sessions, new results were presented on monogenic forms of the disease, prodromal stages, environmental factors, as well as the development of training and research programs. This year, special attention was paid to expanding the participation of Central Asian and Transcaucasian countries — regions where research on the genetic diversity of neurodegenerative diseases is only emerging but already demonstrates high scientific potential. These studies are being carried out within the regional “Central Asia & Transcaucasia Disease Diversity Project” under the leadership of Associate Professor R. B. Kaiyrzhanov, PhD, of the Department of Neurology at SKMA, operating under the GP2 framework.
In Central Asian countries, including the Republic of Kazakhstan, a network of research centers is actively forming under the GP2 international initiatives. Representatives from Kazakhstan participated in discussions on local genetic screening, the training of young researchers, and the implementation of telemedicine solutions in neurogenetics. The Department of Neurology of SKMA was actively involved.
Key achievements in the reporting period include:
• The creation of a research network uniting scientists and clinicians from Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Armenia.
• The establishment of a regional biobank and standardized protocols for collecting clinical and genetic data on Parkinson’s disease and other neurodegenerative disorders.
• Training of young researchers and conducting a series of workshops on genetic data analysis, bioinformatics, and clinical phenotyping.
• Pilot studies on the ethnogenetic diversity of populations in Central Asia and the Transcaucasus, whose results demonstrate unique genetic clusters and novel potential targets for neurodegeneration research.
• Development of international collaboration — active cooperation with University College London (UCL), the University of Oxford, as well as with scientific centers in South America and Africa participating in GP2. Kazakhstan has become a key partner in the regional program. Kazakh scientists actively take part in GP2 trainings and hackathons, and are also developing telemedicine solutions for diagnosis and monitoring of movement disorders in remote regions.
“Participation of Kazakhstan and our Central Asian partners is not only a scientific but also a humanitarian contribution to global science,” noted Dr. Rawan Bagdanovich. “We are creating a unique platform that will allow the world to hear the voice of our region and include its data in global studies of neurodegenerative diseases.”
Professor N. A. Zharkyıbekova emphasized the importance of Kazakhstan’s inclusion in global scientific consortia: Kazakhstan’s participation in GP2 opens new opportunities for research, capacity building, and early diagnosis of neurodegenerative disorders in our region: “We are building a bridge between Central Asia and the world’s neurogenetics centers.”
The Department of Neurology at SKMA established, under this project, a national database of patients with Parkinson’s disease and formed the infrastructure for conducting clinical and genetic studies. The results were successfully presented at the meeting.