UK Biobank vanguard project begins
15 March 2006
The long-awaited UK Biobank project has started its pilot phase this week, recruiting up to three thousand patients for the first stage of the study. After years of careful planning and consultation, the design of the project will now be put to the test as volunteers start to receive invitations to take part and turn up for their assessment visits.
UK Biobank builds on the great successes of previous epidemiological cohort studies – a lot of them also supported by the Medical Research Council – starting from Sir Richard Doll’s work on cancer and smoking in 1954. The range of factors on which information will be gathered will include medical history, lifestyle, genetics, and the project will also collect and store urine and blood samples from the people taking part.
New data derived from the human genome project as well as better collection and management of large amounts of data will allow the investigation of both environmental and genetic causes of disease to be assessed on a massive scale for the first time. The biological samples will allow us to look for potential indicators of disease development before the onset of disease.
“Biobank will be an extremely valuable resource for medical researchers and it is impossible to say at this point just what the outcome of this project will be,” said Professor Colin Blakemore, Chief Executive of the Medical Research Council.
“However, under the leadership of Rory Collins, who has vast experience of large cohort studies, and as a result of the breadth of the consultation involved in the design of the project and the extensive peer review to which the UK Biobank was subjected, there can be no doubt that it will yield amazing results in the investigation of today’s major killers: cancer, heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. The potential of advancing science in these areas could save or at least extend millions of lives every year, and the Medical Research Council is delighted to see this project taking-off.”
