We need your support
UK Biobank is building a national treasure trove of health information, of an impressive scale, to be used by scientists in the future. The resource will be among the largest of its kind anywhere in the world and is likely to be the richest in terms of the available information it will provide for research. We believe it will transform health research in years to come – and we can’t do it without you.
Richard Doll's doctor's study
This type of resource building for future generations comes from an arm of science that has an amazing pedigree. Fifty years ago the late eminent Oxford scientist Sir Richard Doll wanted to find out what caused lung cancer. In a seminal piece of epidemiological research he chose to follow the health of 50,000 doctors and was soon able to show the clear link between smoking and lung cancer. That finding has gone on to save many millions of lives around the world.
His powerful study went on to underline the pivotal role smoking very often plays in heart disease and stroke. Many of Sir Richard’s findings were unexpected at the time the study started.
Now, imagine what researchers might be able to do today – or 50 years into the future – with a resource ten times bigger than Sir Richard’s study and with more detail. Well that, in a nutshell, is UK Biobank.
People from all walks of life
But not only are we recruiting more people, we will embrace all sorts of people from all walks of life. And by allowing us find out about their health and lifestyles today and then to follow them through health records people today can play a crucial role in the prevention and treatment of a host of disabling, debilitating and life-threatening disease in the future.
Perhaps now you can see why we at UK Biobank – and the research and health community more generally – are so excited.
Consider too, the explosion in research technologies in recent years, many coming on the back of the ‘genetics revolution’. What we now know about the way our bodies work is truly astonishing, but it is not enough – we need to know more. It’s hard for us to imagine the sorts of research that might be possible in ten or twenty years’ time and scientists will be helped by being able to return to samples of blood and urine collected many years before.
Advances for treatment of cancer, heart disease, diabetes and more
Since our sample is so large, and, importantly, there will be follow up through health records, UK Biobank ought to shed light on many of the most common life threatening and debilitating diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes – but it will also illuminate many of the rarer conditions or those with less profile, such as mental illness, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, motor neuron disease, dental disease and so on.
Our goal is decidedly long-term; it will be ten years or more before research from UK Biobank starts to bear fruit. However, the resource may have an impact on the lives of many people participating today; some for instance may find the feedback they receive from a visit to the assessment centre of interest.
While the people to benefit most will be our children and their children, many of us may see our own lives touched by this exciting, innovative and far reaching research project.
Please consider taking part in UK Biobank – and help us unlock the secrets of disease that will bring about a better life for all.