Last updated Jan 26, 2015
Transcript
Hello, my name is Dr Jessica Tyrrell and I work at the European Centre for Environmental Human Health which is part of the University of Exeter Medical School. I am an environmental and genetic epidemiologist and as part of this work I work very closely with the Complex Genetics Traits Group, also part of the University of Exeter Medical School. The work we are doing with UK Biobank focuses on type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is a global health problem and despite significant research we are still unaware of all the factors that cause the disease. We are using the UK Biobank to look at the extremes of phenotype of this disease. And what I mean by this is that we are looking at people that are at high risk of the disease who have not developed the disease, and people at low risk who have. So by looking at classical risk factors such as weight, diet, exercise and lifestyle choices we are hoping to identify the 1,000 people most at risk of the disease that don’t have it, and the 1,000 people at the least risk of the disease that do. This research is underway, and we are hoping to publish some findings in early 2013. And we are then going to apply for further funding so that we can investigate the genetics of these two extreme groups.
