Genetics of Developmental Disorders in Africa

Genetic studies of psychiatric and developmental disorders have been overwhelmingly based in the United States and Western Europe. This means that we know very little about genetic variation - both normal and abnormal - within Africa.

The NeuroDEV project , a collaboration between the Broad Institute , the University of Cape Town , Oxford University and the Kenyan Medical Research Institute , aims to find out more about the genetic sequences related to neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism and ADHD. It is also committed to building research capacity within Africa and features training and mentorship for young researchers.

The study is collecting phenotypic information such as growth, behavior, cognitive development and physical features. These phenotypic features will be correlated with data about the genome (the entire genetic sequence) and exome (the expressed part of the genome). Data will be collected from 1,800 children with neurodevelopmental disorders in South Africa and Kenya, 1,800 children of the same ancestry but without any developmental disorders and 1,900 parents of children with neurodevelopmental disorders.

NeuroDev will provide the first extensive, publicly available data set from sub-Saharan Africa on topics ranging from behavior to genetic genotyping. All data and materials collected will be donated to the National Institute of Mental Health .

NeuroDEV is the sister project of NeuroGAP, which explores the genetics of bipolar disorder and schizophrenia in sub-Saharan Africa. June 2018 marked the start of the data collection for the studies .

The Global Initiative for Neuropsychiatric Education in Research, or GINGER , aims to train young researchers to build research capacity in areas outside of the US and Western Europe. I was lucky enough to be part of the first cohort. The fellowship included training in epidemiology, genetics, psychiatry and biostatistics for selected researchers from Southern and East Africa.