Queen Mary University of London

Academic Institute

OFHS250043

In many African countries, diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, kidney-disease and heart-disease are becoming more common. These health problems can shorten lives and affect people’s quality of life. Research has shown that our genes play an important role in these diseases.  Most of what we know about how genes affect disease come from studies of people with European backgrounds. But people from different parts of the world can have different genetic patterns. This means that findings from European studies may not always apply to everyone.  Our goal is to study people of African ancestry who are taking part in the Our Future Health cohort, and see how their genetics are linked to these common diseases. We will compare their results with people from other ancestry backgrounds in the study. By doing this, we hope to find out whether disease risk is different across populations based on genetic makeup and other factors like the environment, lifestyle differences, diet etc. This could ensure that future treatments and prevention strategies work for everyone, not just people from one background. We also hope to improve understanding of how genes affect health in people of African ancestry, which have been underrepresented in past research studies. Most of what we know about how genes affect disease comes from studying people with European ancestry. Thus, we don’t fully understand how genes impact the health of people from other backgrounds. This makes it harder to create fair and accurate ways to predict and treat disease for everyone. People of African ancestry have the most varied genetic makeup in the world. Their DNA can help scientists find new genetic risk factors for diseases that might not have been seen in other groups. By using diverse genetic information from people of African ancestry in Our Future Health, we hope to improve predictions of who may be at risk for certain diseases. We aim to identify pathways that can help design genetically-guided treatments that work better for everyone. Our study will focus on common conditions that affect the heart, blood vessels, kidneys, and how the body processes food and energy, such as diabetes. We will study the genetic information of Africans compared with other ancestries to better understand why some populations are more or less likely to develop certain diseases. This research will help ensure that future healthcare treatments are more accurate, inclusive, and effective for people of all backgrounds.

Our study will help to identify genetic risk factors for cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, providing insights into genes that may be useful for early diagnosis and potential targets for treatments. By doing this, we would contribute to improving human health as we elucidate the underlying disease mechanisms.

Public Health Research

10/09/2025

20/06/2025

TRE