UK Biobank

The UK Biobank is a major UK medical research initiative that aims to help prevention, diagnosis and treatment of a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses. Up to 500 000 volunteers aged 40-69 will be involved, contributing DNA samples, lifestyle details and medical information to create a national database of unprecedented size. The project will follow the health of these volunteers for up to 30 years.

Over the next few years UK Biobank will build up a uniquely rich resource for investigating why some people develop particular diseases while others do not. The project aims to recruit 220 000 participants by mid-2008 and 380 000 by mid-2009, culminating in just over 500 000 participants by mid-2010. All information collected will be stored centrally and updated as each participant's health status is monitored. As a resource, Biobank will be able to complement other large prospective cohort studies that have been set up in recent years.

The UK Biobank project will enable scientists to gain unique insight into the genetic and environmental causal factors associated with a wide range of debilitating diseases, providing vital information needed to work on future preventative and curative measures.

The project is funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, the Department of Health, the Scottish Executive and the Northwest Regional Development Agency.

UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council

The UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council (EGC) is an independent committee established by the Medical Research Council and the Wellcome Trust.Its purposes are:

to act as an independent guardian of the UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Framework (EGF) and advise on its revision
to monitor and report publicly on the conformity of the UK Biobank project with the EGF
to advise more generally on the interests of research participants and the general public in relation to UK Biobank.