This week on The Genetics Podcast, Patrick is joined by Dr. Arabella Bouzigues, Coordinator of the Genetic Frontotemporal Dementia Initiative (GENFI) and postdoctoral researcher. They discuss the scale and structure of GENFI as a global collaboration and what longitudinal data is revealing about genetics and biomarkers in frontotemporal dementia.

Show Notes: 

0:00 Intro to The Genetics Podcast

01:00 Welcome to Arabella 

01:30 Background and structure of the Genetic Frontotemporal Initiative (GENFI) consortium

02:48 Scale of the GENFI cohort and the breadth of longitudinal data collected

06:06 Clinical signs and progression of frontotemporal dementia (FTD) 

10:08 How genetic variants map onto different clinical forms of frontotemporal dementia

12:11 Biomarkers in genetic FTD and the challenge of separating neurodegeneration from lifelong brain differences

19:36 Mutation-specific cortical microstructure patterns in FTD and what MRI reveals at the earliest stages

23:04 Why combining genetics imaging fluid and digital biomarkers is essential for early detection and trials in FTD

25:39 How the GENFI consortium is run across more than 50 sites worldwide

30:42 How urgency and unmet need drive strong collaboration in the FTD community

33:11 Promising developments in FTD therapeutics

36:39 Closing remarks

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https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bp2_wVNSzntTs_zuoizU8bX1dvao4jfj/view?usp=share_link

Find out more: 

• GENFI (https://www.genfi.org/)