UK Biobank has achieved many world firsts, and we are still far from reaching our full potential. Each time a new layer of information is added to the data, it enriches all the existing data as well.
It is this combination of data that makes UK Biobank so useful and sets us apart from other projects.
We are working with researchers to run new projects, enhance the data, and improve how they can securely work with it.
Our strategy
In the coming years, we will work in three key areas.
1. Enhance the data
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Collect more data
We will work with our participants to gather more data through our online health and lifestyle questionnaires, and we will explore new methods such as wearable technology.
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Create more data from samples
The improved technology in our new facility will open our vast collection of biological samples to more organisations, using emerging technologies to unlock data in ways not possible before.
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Link more data
We will keep adding health, socioeconomic and environmental data from other datasets, allowing researchers to uncover new connections that would not otherwise be possible.
2. Increase access to the data
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Improve the technology for researchers
We will work with the scientific community to keep upgrading and finessing the technology that researchers use to securely access and analyse our data.
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Assist researchers
We will develop a comprehensive training programme and help system so researchers are better equipped to work with large, complex datasets like ours.
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Support lower-income researchers
We will encourage more researchers from a wide range of countries to use our data, increasing the financial support we can offer to those in lower-income countries.
3. Grow our funding and support
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Find funding to create more data from samples
We will work with groups of potential funders to secure the significant investment required to further analyse our 15 million biological samples.
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Inspire philanthropy
We are extremely grateful to the philanthropists who support us, and we aim to inspire more philanthropists to fund this vital, international, scientific resource.
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Raise our profile
We will demonstrate the value and impact of UK Biobank data on health research to our participants, funders, researchers and the wider public.
Our new facility
In May 2023, we announced that we would be moving to a larger, faster, and more efficient purpose-built facility at Bruntwood SciTech’s Manchester Science Park, following £127.6 million in funding from the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Infrastructure Fund.
UK Biobank’s biological samples, laboratories, headquarters and around half of our staff will move to the new £75m, 131,000-square-foot Greenheys facility.
The new facility is due to be operational in 2026.
Improving efficiency
The new facility will include a latest-generation robotic freezer to store and retrieve the 16 million biological samples that have been donated by our 500,000 participants, with room for up to 20 million samples in total. The freezer will be able to retrieve samples four times faster than before, revolutionising the pace of scientific discovery.
UK Biobank will occupy three floors of a highly specialist purpose-built new building alongside fast-growth life science businesses working in diagnostics, genomics, biotech and precision medicine.
The building will be one of the first lab spaces in the UK to be 100% electrically powered. The building process – and the continued operation of its shared spaces – is ‘net zero carbon’. The building will achieve a BREEAM Excellent rating (a recognised environmental sustainability standard for buildings).
The new electrically cooled freezers will significantly reduce our carbon footprint and largely eliminate the use of fluorinated refrigerants. A seven-metre high, two-storey ‘green wall’ wrapping around the building will act as a layer of insulation, increase biodiversity and improve air quality.
Local connections
Supported by the University of Manchester, the new building puts UK Biobank near leading institutions operating across research, academia, business and the NHS.
Manchester Science Park sits in the heart of the city, close to the University of Manchester and the Oxford Road Corridor innovation district, providing new opportunities for collaboration with multi-disciplinary researchers and industry.
It also offers access to additional talent due to the proximity to leading institutions operating across research, academia, business and the NHS.
The campus is one of the UK’s most well-established life science and technology hubs, home to 150 startups, scaleups, and globally leading businesses.
We are thrilled to be moving to a world-leading centre for genomics and data, where we can build on existing relationships with The University of Manchester. We are incredibly grateful to UKRI for their funding and support, which will enable us to consider new ways to enrich the data and make UK Biobank even more valuable for health research.
Prof Sir Rory Collins, Principal Investigator and CEO of UK Biobank