UK Biobank opens to researchers
30 March 2012
From today, researchers from the UK and abroad will be able to apply for access to use data from the world’s largest and most detailed resource for health research in the world. UK Biobank has been funded by the Medical Research Council (MRC), the Wellcome Trust, the Department of Health, the British Heart Foundation and the Scottish and Welsh Governments. It has been designed to allow scientists to examine the complex interaction of genes, lifestyle and other environmental factors in causing a wide range of different diseases.
More than half a million participants aged between 40 and 69 were recruited from Scotland, England and Wales over four years (2006-2010), via 22 assessment centres. Measurements of height, weight, body fat, hand grip strength, bone density, lung function and blood pressure were taken, along with information about medical histories and lifestyles. Memory, diet, early life factors and psychosocial events (such as how often people see family and friends) were also recorded. The last 100,000 participants also had hearing, fitness and eye tests (creating the biggest eye study ever, in the process).
The resource is expected to advance research into the causes, prevention and treatment of a large number of chronic, painful and life-threatening illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, dementia, depression, arthritis, and eye, bone and muscle disorders.
“This is without doubt a very exciting day for medical research, not just in the UK but around the world,” said UK Biobank Principal Investigator, Professor Sir Rory Collins. “We are grateful to participants for their trust and support so far. But they have not joined the project to see it remain idle; we all want to see the resource used extensively to bring about benefits to health and wellbeing.”
Studies using the resource will be fed back into the Biobank to further enhance the database. The resource currently contains about 20TB (terabyte) of securely-stored data, the equivalent of 30,000 CDs stacked to a height of about 35 metres. Up to ten times more information would be added if an exciting plan to do specialised imaging scans in one fifth of all participants gets the go-ahead.
The Biobank data will grow as the participants’ stored samples are analysed and their health followed over many years, building a key resource for research into a wide range of illnesses that cause pain, disability and premature death.
UK Biobank will gain in value for health research as new information is added. This will include:
• Results of tests on participants’ blood, urine and saliva samples, including genetic tests;
• Changes in participants’ health are recorded via electronic records (eg general practice, hospital statistics, cancer and death registers);
• Results from studies using UK Biobank are put back into the resource for other researchers to use;
• Additional or more detailed information about the participants is added (eg physical activity, diet, work and residential questionnaires and possibly, body scanning), and repeat measurements are undertaken.
Scientists from the UK and overseas, irrespective of whether they are from academia, industry, charity or are government-funded, will be able to use the resource subject to checks that the research is health-related and in the public interest. Only information that does not identify participants will be provided to researchers.
Dr Wendy Ewart, the MRC’s deputy chief executive and director of strategy, said: "UK Biobank opening its doors to researchers represents a huge step forward in our efforts to understand the role that genes, environment and lifestyle play in the development of disease.
"The success of this major partnership project is testament to the strength of UK biomedical research in the global science scene."
Applications to use the resource will be made online. The process will be overseen by the Access Sub-Committee of the UK Biobank Board. The independent UK Biobank Ethics & Governance Council also has oversight of the system. Successful applications to use the resource will also be published on the website as they are approved.
The project’s Access Procedures are available at
http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Access_Procedures_Nov_2011.pdf
