The NIHR BioResource is a national resource that brings scientists together with a network of over 300,000 volunteers willing to participate in research studies, and a secure database of over 11 petabytes (11 million gigabytes) of data. The BioResource includes a wide range of people and aims to represent the full diversity of people within the UK, with a particular interest in under-represented communities.
Cambridge is the national coordinating centre for the NIHR BioResource, which is hosted by CUH in partnership with the University of Cambridge. In addition, the BioResource encompasses 18 local centres across England.
The new funding will support the BioResource to continue developing valuable resources supporting research into topics including mental health, improving health inequalities, and young people’s health (D-CYPHR). This will include progress on the recently-launched Improving Black Health Outcomes programme, which has been created to encourage dedicated research into health conditions and experience of people in the UK that are part of Black communities.
Dr Nathalie Kingston, Director of the BioResource said:
“As the NIHR BioResource has grown we’ve been able to focus our efforts on supporting research into key areas of need.
"Thanks to the NIHR we can continue to provide this valued national research resource, and will continue work to engage and support Black communities, young people and address the deficiency in mental health research.”
The BioResource was created in Cambridge in 2008 with the intention of generating a pre-existing set of samples and diverse research participants that could be recruited to support a wide range of scientific studies. Since 2012, the NIHR has funded the BioResource to grow into a national asset with 18 sites across the UK. The BioResource has contributed to the publication of over 460 scientific papers, supporting over 360 studies.
Professor John Bradley, Co-Chair of the BioResource said:
“Here in the UK we’re uniquely well equipped to bring together people, their medical data and the latest research to drive scientific discoveries.
"The BioResource has become a key national asset, and this new funding from the NIHR will enable many more studies to work with an increasingly diverse range of people to find out more about human biology and health."
Recent achievements
- The NIHR BioResource transformed the NHS’s approach to diagnosing rare diseases by contributing to the 100,000 Genomes Project and demonstrating whole genome sequencing speeds up and improves diagnosis.
- The NIHR BioResource supported the development of the NHS blood group genotyping test. Now nearly 18,000 people in England, with sickle cell disorder and thalassaemia, can have a world-first genetic test to better match future blood transfusions, reducing their risk of side effects.
- The Genes and Cognition BioResource is testing the cognition of 21,500 healthy and patient volunteers over time for further insight into brain health and potential future therapies.
- The DNA Children and Young People’s Health Resource (D-CYPHR) is the world’s first genetics health research programme open to every child in the country using online recruitment.
- The Inflammatory Bowel Disease BioResource established a patient and public review group which developed an award-winning national approach to how health data are accessed for research, and has helped to identify mechanisms and genetic changes that underly the causes of IBD and its treatment.
What one of our volunteers said about participating in health research with the BioResource:
"I find it interesting to participate and was welcomed by all. It takes just a few moments, costs me nothing and is an essential part of research making a real difference."
Read the announcement from NIHR
Find out more about the BioResource and how you can join on the NIHR BioResource website.