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The UK Biobank project aims to create a massive bank of biological material and linked medical information with a view to facilitating research into the genetic and environmental factors that affect the risk of common complex diseases. It is intended that a total of 500,000 adult volunteers aged between 40-69 will eventually be recruited and their future health outcomes followed; this information combined with genetic and lifestyle data will be available for research.

A pilot centre opened in Altrincham, South Manchester on 13th March, and up to 3000 individuals in the area are being contacted by post and invited to participate in the venture. This will entail a visit to the assessment centre of around an hour for clinical assessments, provision of blood and urine samples, and agreement for UK Biobank to follow their future “medical and other health-related records” (see press release). Alan Langlands, chair of the UK Biobank board, said: "The privacy of participants will be protected throughout the lifetime of the project…The security of patient data has to be guaranteed to have the confidence of the public” (see BBC news report).

The initial recruitment phase is intended to ensure procedure run smoothly before the scheme is rolled-out nationally later in the year, when a total of 8-10 assessment centres across the UK are expected to be in operation at any one time.

UK Biobank is funded by the Department of Health, the Scottish Executive, the Wellcome Trust and the Medical Research Council (MRC).