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UK Biobank plays a vital role in advancing modern medicine and treatment through the UK Biobank Research Analysis Platform (UKB-RAP), a secure, sophisticated, and user-friendly cloud-based tool.
What is the UKB-RAP?
The UKB-RAP empowers approved researchers to analyse UK Biobank data anytime, anywhere, unlocking the unparalleled potential of the world’s most comprehensive biomedical dataset.
Developed in partnership with DNAnexus and powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS), the UKB-RAP enables researchers to deepen their understanding of how to prevent, diagnose and treat a wide range of serious and life-threatening illnesses, particularly those associated with ageing.
Features of the UKB-RAP
Keeping participant data secure
The UKB-RAP provides unmatched access to UK Biobank’s vast database within a secure, consistent and sophisticated research environment.
With over 30 petabytes of individual-level data stored centrally, the UKB-RAP minimises the risks and costs associated with local storage or data transfer.
Efficient and scalable cloud computing
Leverage high-performance cloud computing to conduct varied analyses with greater efficiency and peace of mind. The UKB-RAP provides:
- Built-in tools for data organisation and analysis – including JupyterLab, RStudio, Apache Spark, WDL Workflow, and Nvidia Parabricks.
- Custom software installation – tailor the platform to your specific research needs, including support for your own tools and Docker containerisation.
- Integrated storage, computation, and analysis – eliminating external storage costs while enhancing data security.
- Seamless collaboration – share analyses and datasets with colleagues within a secure environment.
Powerful data exploration and analysis
Gain insights faster with intuitive tools:
- Posit Workbench – analyse data using R and Python in a collaborative environment.
- Cohort Browser – explore genomic and phenotypic datasets to build subject cohorts for analysis. Visualise genomic data directly within the platform using the Integrated Genomics Viewer (IGV).
- JupyterLab – conduct custom analyses in your preferred programming language using interactive notebooks.
- HAIL with JupyterLab – perform large-scale genomic analysis with example notebooks and best practices.
Custom application and workflow development
Develop and deploy tailored research applications:
- Build custom analysis applications – develop tools that meet your unique research requirements, with support for Docker and containerisation.
- Create and implement custom workflows – automate and optimise data processing for efficiency.
Effortless data management and sharing
Easily manage and collaborate on datasets:
- Upload and share files – upload your own data to analyse alongside the UK Biobank dataset, using the dx client or Upload Agent. Share files within your project with ease.
- Run and monitor apps and workflows – configure and execute analyses via UI or CLI.
Advanced programmatic access and visualisation
Enhance your research with powerful tools:
- Platform API – automate processes and integrate UKB-RAP capabilities into your workflows.
Get started on the UKB-RAP today
Join thousands of researchers using UKB-RAP to accelerate discoveries in health and biomedical science.
To ensure the highest standards of security, accessibility, and scalability, research data is exclusively available via the UKB-RAP. To gain access, researchers must:
- register for access
- have an approved project
- complete three short training courses
Support for researchers
Navigating large datasets and advanced analysis tools can be challenging, particularly for those new to cloud platforms. UK Biobank is committed to supporting researchers by providing training, resources, and community support to help you confidently execute your research.
UK Biobank Community
Visit the UK Biobank Community, our hub for knowledge, collaboration and learning. You can read guides, collaborate with other researchers and raise requests for support.
UK Biobank Github
Explore the UK Biobank GitHub for more in-depth walkthroughs for specific tools and functions.
Financial support
In addition to the access fee, researchers using the UKB-RAP will incur costs for using computational power, storing data and for transferring data out of the cloud.
UK Biobank offers financial support packages for students, early career researchers, and projects based in low- and middle-income countries. Additionally, AWS credits are available to eligible researchers to help offset the costs of compute and storage within the UKB-RAP.
All researchers receive a complimentary £40 of credit which can support around 100 hours of analysis. After that, a billing account will need to be set up to pay for further costs from using the platform.
Applying for a data access exemption
UK Biobank are committed to ensuring accessibility for health-related research in the public interest. While we encourage all researchers to access UK Biobank data exclusively through the UKB-RAP, we understand that some researchers may face challenges, such as:
- Needing tools or specialised software not yet integrated with the UKB-RAP;
- Experiencing prohibitive costs for certain cloud-based analyses; and/or
- Needing substantive compute power (GPUs) that is beyond the current capacity of the UKB-RAP.
To address this, the UK Biobank Access Committee will review exemption requests for limited, temporary download access to specific data fields. Read the full exemptions from the UKB-RAP by default policy.
We inform NHS England of all exemptions containing health record linkage data.
“The UKB-RAP takes the fantastic data generated by the UK Biobank project and removes the few barriers to entry. By making all of the data available on the cloud through DNAnexus, I can readily scale my computing needs based on my current analysis.“
Dr Eugene Gardner, MRC Epidemiology Unit, University of Cambridge, UK