UK Biobank

UK Biobank is a long-term prospective biobank study in the United Kingdom that houses de-identified biological samples and health-related data from half a million people. Its volunteer participants were aged 40 to 69 and were recruited between 2006 and 2010 from across Great Britain. They consented both to share their health data and to be followed for at least 30 years, so that researchers can study how disease develops over decades. The stated aim is to enable scientific discoveries into the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, which makes the resource a shared foundation for population health research rather than a clinic or a single laboratory.