Project description
Closing the genetic prediction gap
Genetic risk prediction has the potential to transform personalised medicine. However, current polygenic risk scores often perform poorly across diverse populations. This is because they are based largely on data from underrepresented groups and do not capture the full range of genetic factors influencing disease. Supported by the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions programme, the POPSCORE project will develop more accurate and equitable polygenic risk score approaches by integrating population-specific genetic histories and rare high-impact variants. The focus is on improving the prediction of depression and cardiometabolic diseases in high-risk individuals. The project’s overall goal is to advance fair and clinically useful genetic risk prediction while supporting responsible implementation of personalised healthcare.
Objective
POPSCORE is an interdisciplinary and intersectoral project aimed at developing actionable and equitable polygenic risk scores (PRS) for disease prediction, with a focus on populations underserved in genetic research. PRS estimates genome-wide disease risk from inherited DNA variation, but clinical use is limited because of inconsistent performance across populations and because PRS does not include the full spectrum of genetic risk. To address this, POPSCORE will evaluate current state-of-the-art PRS methods and develop new approaches that integrate population-specific history and the estimated contribution of high-effect, rare variants. This will capture important variability in genetic architecture between populations, particularly in high-risk individuals, that current PRS approaches miss.
POPSCORE has three objectives. First, it will deliver proof-of-principle for this novel approach, enhancing PRS performance and clinical utility, focusing on depression and cardiometabolic disease in high-risk individuals. Second, it will improve transferability of genetic risk prediction across populations by implementing the approach in two diverse genetic cohorts: the BioMe biobank and the HELIUS study. Third, POPSCORE leverages practices of co-creation with stakeholders and evidence-based science communication and policy design, carefully weighing benefits and risks of PRS and its ethical implementation.
Conducted at Amsterdam University Medical Center and Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, POPSCORE engages non-academic partners (Pharos Expertise Center for Health Disparities and the EU Joint Research Centre) and societal stakeholders, fostering collaboration across continents, building lasting bridges between academia and society, and providing an important stepping-stone for career development for the fellow. POPSCORE will advance the field of personalized medicine, supporting the European Commission's mission to improve health and wellbeing.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history
- natural sciences biological sciences genetics DNA
- medical and health sciences health sciences personalized medicine
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Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Project’s keywords as indicated by the project coordinator. Not to be confused with the EuroSciVoc taxonomy (Fields of science)
Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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HORIZON.1.2 - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)
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Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
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Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
HORIZON-TMA-MSCA-PF-GF - HORIZON TMA MSCA Postdoctoral Fellowships - Global Fellowships
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Call for proposal
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(opens in new window) HORIZON-MSCA-2025-PF
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1081 HV Amsterdam
Netherlands
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