UCL BioResource is expanding its reach by asking diabetes patients who have previously taken part in research if they consent to their previous samples being used to sign them up to the resource.
Beginning this month, UCL BioResource team will be contacting participants from previous diabetes studies to ask if they can use their existing blood, serum or plasma samples currently stored in the Royal Free Biobank.
This is the first group of patients outside of regular recruitment channels to be included in the UCL BioResource, which aims to gather 10,000 DNA samples from people prepared to be contacted about research studies. Usual recruitment channels focus on publicising the initiative in clinics, at public events and online.
Patients who have previously taken part in research are extremely valuable to the initiative as a large amount of data about them will already collected.
Approximately 1,500 diabetes patients will be contacted once to ask if they consent to their previous samples being used to join the UCL BioResource. The communication will be managed by coordinators from the Diabetes Alliance for Research in England (DARE) study. DARE is a database study to collect updated clinical and genetic information on all patients with diabetes in the south west region of the UK. As a result, DARE aims to provide a resource to look for gene or environment interactions in the development of Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes and associated complications.
BRC-supported Professor Steve Humphries is the lead Principal Investigator on DARE. Professor Humphries said: “This is a very exciting use of the blood samples we already have stored from patients with diabetes. With permission from the patients we will be able to use them for many state-of-the-art analyses to try to shed light on the causes of diabetes and why some patients are particularly at high risk for the complications of diabetes such as early heart disease”.
UCL BioResource is one of eight centres in the nationwide NIHR BioResource project providing researchers with access to suitable candidates for research studies based on their DNA and by other factors including gender, age and lifestyle, on an unprecedented scale.
