UK Biobank is a British project that has the stated goal of improving the prevention, diagnoses, and treatment of various diseases such as diabetes, cancer, and stroke. UK Biobank strives towards this goal by collecting blood, urine, and saliva samples from its 500,000 participants to study and analyze their contents and also by tracking those participants for a number of years. The contents the participants give to the initiative are predicted to reveal a link between genome variation and human disease.
UK Biobank recruited its participants between 2006 and 2010. During that time participants went to assessment centers where biological matter containing DNA was extracted and information about their health and lifestyle habits where documented. Their genes were sequenced and the insights found with those sequences were studied and published by scientists working on the project. Other scientists and healthcare professionals can access this data by applying for and registering for access. Further studies have been conducted with select participants, specifically in the areas of brain imaging and eye and vision studies.
