Joint press release issued by The Wellcome Trust, Medical Research Council and the Department of Health
The funders of the UK Biobank, Medical Research Council (MRC), The Wellcome Trust (WT) and Department of Health (DoH), are pleased to announce that The University of Manchester has won the opportunity to host the Co-ordinating Centre for the UK Biobank project
The new Manchester headquarters of the study of genes, environment and health, will have overall responsibility for delivering the project including data management and quality assurance, computing and financial management. It will also be responsible for co-ordinating the activities of six scientific Collaborating Centres who will contribute to the design of the project and be responsible for participant recruitment and initial data and sample collection.
The six collaborating centres each consist of a network of academic and research institutions and they are Scottish Consortium, Fosse Way Consortium, North West & Wessex Consortium, Welsh Consortium, Central England Consortium and London Consortium. A total of 23 UK universities will be involved directly in these consortia. (More detailed information on the different Collaborating Centres can be found in the Editors Notes)
John Newton, Chief Executive Officer of UK Biobank, says: "This announcement heralds the next phase of UK Biobank. Setting up the Co-ordinating Centre in Manchester and developing capacity in the regional Collaborating Centres will drive the project forward in an exciting way.
"We have also established a Science Committee, chaired by Professor John Bell, which will advise UK Biobank on strategic direction and its overall approach to developing the scientific content of the project."
The Co-ordinating Centre will be set up as a charitable company limited by guarantee, jointly owned by the MRC and the Wellcome Trust, which will contract to rent or lease its own accommodation.
For more information contact
Johnny Steyn in the MRC Press Office on 020 7637 6011 E-mail: johannes.steyn@headoffice.mrc.ac.uk
Shaun Griffin in the Wellcome Trust Press Office on 020 7611 8612; Mobile: 07710 307059 E-mail: s.griffin@wellcome.ac.uk
Alison Pitts-Bland in the Department of Health Media Centre on 020 7210 5230 E-mail: alison.pitts-bland@doh.gov.uk
By Jenny Marra, Head of Press 01382 344910 j.m.marra@dundee.ac.uk