Imaging project sees its 30,000th volunteer in Stockport

A Shrewsbury resident became the 30,000^th volunteer at the Stockport assessment centre, which supports the work of two other scanning centres. These high quality pictures of hearts, brains, bones and abdomens will be used by scientists to discover why some people develop life-threatening diseases and others do not.

"Seeing how it’s making huge leaps to improve healthcare for our future generations is the biggest reward anyone could get. I’m so proud to be part of this project!"

Ms. Lesley Milne, 72, who travelled nearly two hours to the assessment centre in greater Manchester.

Over 38,000 volunteers from Manchester took part in the initial assessment between 2006 and 2013. These participants are being invited for imaging scans of their heart, brain, bones, abdomen and main arteries. Approved scientists use this information to understand how genes, environment and lifestyle choices lead to certain diseases.

"UK Biobank has been truly transformative in the way that research into common diseases is conducted. The breadth and depth of the available data is simply staggering. This accelerates the speed and clinical impact of new discoveries for population benefit… it’s simply amazing!"

Professor Martin Rutter, Professor of Cardiometabolic Medicine and Honorary Consultant Physician at Manchester University

The assessment centres in Newcastle and Reading support the work of the main scanning centre in Stockport which have scanned almost 20,000 participants between them. A new centre in Bristol will be open next year to further support the project.