Update: UK Biobank underway
15 March 2006
UK Biobank, a visionary medical project aimed at improving the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and many other serious conditions, is launched this week after several years of meticulous planning.
A world first, UK Biobank will gather, store and protect medical data and material on half a million volunteers aged 40 to 69. Following consent, each participant will be asked to donate a blood and urine sample, have some standard measurements taken, such as blood pressure, and complete a confidential lifestyle questionnaire. Over the next 20 to 30 years UK Biobank will allow fully approved researchers to use these resources to study the progression of major illnesses, allowing them to study in depth how the complex interplay of genes, lifestyle and environment affect the risk of developing a specific disease.
Up to 3000 people living in the south Manchester area are being sent invitations to take part in the start-up phase of UK Biobank.
The objective of this initial phase of recruitment is to make sure all of the planned procedures go smoothly before the study gets underway nationwide later in the year, when around eight to ten assessment centres will be running at any one time around the UK.
The Wellcome Trust is a major funder of UK Biobank, contributing £28 million of the £62 million total cost.
See also
- UK Biobank gets new Chief Executive and Principal Investigator (News: 8 August 2005)
- UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Council website goes live (News: 24 April 2005)
- UK Biobank Ethics and Governance Framework
- UK Biobank