UK BIOBANK MEETING

Following on from yesterdays blip I put the same photo on my Facebook page and early this morning ( too early ) I had a Facebook message from my cousin which included some photos of the same occasion.  One of them shows Grandad holding the trophy - and he is almost smiling.  Another photo shows the plaque he got at the same time and which used to have pride of place on top of the piano in his house. My cousin and I " chatted " online for quite some time and he was able to fill in a few gaps in my family history knowledge.  He used to live with Grandma and Grandad so he has a lot more stories.  I think we will have to have a good old catch up sometime and swap stories and share family photos. 

So my planned lie in didn't happen.  Until 2pm I just pottered around at home and caught up with a bit of TV viewing. 

Then I walked down to the village to get a bus to The Marriott Hotel.  I was attending a meeting organised by UK Biobank. In 2006 I joined the Biobank project which recruited half a million adults aged 40 - 69 from all around the UK. I attended an event in Newcastle along with many others and gave blood, had measurements taken and did lots of tests. The process that day took around 3 hours. We understood at the time that any information/results  obtained from the project would not be relayed to the participants but would be used for research.

The meeting was well attended and lasted around 2 hours.  Firstly we were spoken to by the UK Biobank Chief Scientist Cathie Sudlow who told us that the project is the envy of the scientific world.  The data is held in a large building near Manchester Airport including the frozen blood in a huge freezer. When  samples are needed robots are used to collect them. Back up samples are kept in a separate building in Stockport. Since 2006 UK Biobank has gathered huge quantities of data on its  participants via online questionnaires  – including their lifestyle, weight, height, diet, physical activity and cognitive function, as well as genetic data from blood samples. Linkage to a wide range of health records is also under way - including data from hospitals and GP's.

The data is available to any approved researchers and  300 projects are either underway or have been completed to try and find the causes of various diseases in middle/old age. 116 research papers have been published. Since the start of the project around 14,000 of the original participants have passed away.

Next year they are going to perform image scanning of 100,000 participants. There will be a MRI scan of the brain, heart and abdomen, an ultrasound scan of the neck to measure blood vessels and low dose X Ray of bones and joints.  There will be 3 centres for scanning - Stockport, Reading and Newcastle.  I am hoping to be chosen to have the scan. If anything really serous is found we will be informed via our GP but otherwise the results will just be used for the project.

There was a break for tea and cakes and in the second part of the meeting a Professor Trenall spoke about his research into diabetes and how genetics and lifestyle interact.  All very interesting.

In my extra shot you can see the table I was sitting at  all set up with pens, paper, water and glasses. I did use the pen and paper to take notes as I would never have remembered all the info we were given. The speakers both thanked everyone for taking part in the project as without us it wouldn't exist.  Its nice to feel part of something so worthwhile.

After the meeting I went to Asda which is quite near The Marriott.  Then the bus to The Metrocentre to get another bus home. 

So I didn't go to my slimming group meeting. Its a shame I missed the meeting as tonight was our Christmas Party and taster night.  I know - Christmas already.  It was a nationwide thing to celebrate the publication of the new Christmas recipe book.

Steps today - 7,360