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PPM 03-0311-190017
Project Information

Proposal Number

PPM 03-0311-190017

Program Cycle

PPM 03

Submitting Institution Name

Sidra Medicine

Project Status

Award Active

Start Date

26/01/2020

Lead Investigator

Dr. Ammira Al-Shabeeb Akil

Project Duration

3 Year(s)

End Date

09/07/2023

Submission Type

New

Proposal Title

The QGPRS Study: Qatar Genome Polygenic Risk Score, a precision Medicine Approach to Prevent Diabetic Complications in the affected Qatari Individuals

Project Summary

Proposal Description:

Nature of the proposed Research: A Precision Medicine Approach to Prevent Diabetic Complications in the Local Population of Qatar (the QGPRS Study). Context: Qatar is listed amongst the top 10 countries in the world with the highest prevalence (23%) of diabetes. Diabetes is the leading cause of cardiovascular and renal diseases that are both serious and costly. Improvement of the risk prediction is crucial to enable targeting individuals at high risk that could most benefit from an early prevention. However, this is most useful if prevention can be started early. Unfortunately, current clinical risk prediction algorithms are only applicable once clinical signs have been observed. Genetic information, with which one is born, offers a way to make early detection of risk. A successful application of genome wide association studies (GWAS) has been the identification of multiple common variants associated to complex traits such as T2D, renal and cardiovascular diseases. Taken individually, these genetic variants account for only a small effect size but the combination of hundreds or even thousands of them into polygenic risk scores (PRS) was recently introduced into models used to predict individual risk of diseases and their complications. What is a PRS? A PRS is a number that defines the level of risk a person has, to develop a disease or its complications over a defined period. The PRS considers the multiple genomic variants of a person and match them to “reference” individuals included in a database. The outcomes of the best matched individuals are then used to infer the outcomes of the new person before any clinical signs.

Research Area Keywords:

Polygenic Risk Score; Diabetes complications; Diabetes Prevention; GWAS; single nucleotide polymorphisms

Research Type

Translational Research / Experimental Development

Research AreaSub Research AreaSub SpecialityPrimarySecondary
3. Medical and Health Sciences3.1 Basic MedicineHuman GeneticsYesNo
3. Medical and Health Sciences3.4 Medical BiotechnologyGene-Based Diagnostics and Therapeutic InterventionsNoYes
Project Summary
InstitutionCountryInstitution Role
Weill Cornell Medical College in QatarQatarCollaborative Institution
McGill UniversityCanadaCollaborative Institution
Sidra MedicineQatarSubmitting Institution
Personnel
RoleNameAffiliation
Lead PIDr. Ammira Al-Shabeeb AkilSidra Medicine
PIDr. Ma'n ZawatiMcGill University
PIProf. Shahrad TaheriWeill Cornell Medical College in Qatar
PIProf. Pavel HametUniversité de Montréal
PIDr. Younes MokrabSidra Medicine
PIDr. Abeer FaddaSidra Medicine
PIProf. Johanne TremblayUniversité de Montréal
PIProf. Bartha Maria KnoppersMcGill University
PIDr. Patrick BergeronBishop's University
PIDr. Jean LachaineUniversité de Montréal
ConsultantDr. Monica YoungHamad Medical Corporation
ConsultantDr. Ma'n ZawatiMcGill University
ConsultantMr. Tariq Abu SaqriSidra Medicine
ConsultantDr. Khalid FakhroSidra Medicine