UK Biobank’s Principal Investigator, Professor Sir Rory Collins, has today become the 60,000th volunteer to take part in the world’s largest internal organ imaging study. This marks a significant milestone in phase one of UK Biobank’s imaging project, which aims to capture Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data from the brain, heart and abdomen, together with bone density and ultrasound scans of the carotid arteries of up to 100,000 participants.
By capturing a vast number of images of the human body during both good and ill health and combining it with the genetic and lifestyle data already held on half a million participants, the study will improve understanding of why one person develops a life-altering disease when others do not, enabling scientists to diagnose, treat, and potentially prevent diseases like dementia, heart disease, arthritis and cancer.
Rory underwent the 5-hour assessment at UK Biobank’s imaging centre in Reading. Over 55,0001 people volunteered to join UK Biobank from Reading, London and Oxford between 2006 and 2010. Participants locally who have been invited to take part in an imaging assessment in Reading are encouraged to come forward to undergo their first assessment.
As the number of people attending baseline imaging grows, participants will be invited back for phase two of the imaging project which will involve performing repeat imaging on 60,000 of these participants, two to seven years after their initial scan to investigate the progression of disease.
The funding for this has been provided by a public-private partnership between the Medical Research Council (MRC); Calico Life Sciences, a biotechnology organisation founded by Alphabet and Arthur D. Levinson; and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), a philanthropy founded by Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg. These second scans will enable researchers to understand changes taking place in the body even before symptoms of disease occur. Repeat imaging is expected to begin in late 2022.
Be part of the world’s largest whole-body scanning project to transform the way we diagnose, prevent and treat our most chronic diseases.
129,444 in Reading, 14,071 in Oxford and 12,603 in London.
