EP 109: From the Archives: Professor Sir Rory Collins on the Origins and Future of the UK Biobank

The Genetics Podcast

This week, we’re re-sharing one of our favorite episodes from the early days of The Genetics Podcast - one that many newer listeners may not have heard!

Tune in as Professor Sir Rory Collins, Founder and Chief Executive of the UK Biobank, talks to us about the origins and evolution of this world-changing project that has catalysed a wave of new discoveries by levelling the playing field in data access.

In this inspiring conversation, Professor Sir Rory Collins describes the ‘’If you build it, they will come get it” attitude of the UK Biobank. He believes that the pioneering and collaborative nature of UK Biobank means that the biggest impacts are yet to come.

The conversation finishes with details on their COVID-19 work (as of 2020), which involved members from the original 500,000 strong UK Biobank cohort, as well as family members of these participants.

Summary:

00:00 Introduction to the UK Biobank and its impact

01:23 Origins and purpose of the UK Biobank

06:20 Involvement of private industry in funding data collection

08:47 Access to data by academic and commercial researchers

11:07 Opportunities for enhancing participant characterization

14:25 UK Biobank's major findings expected in the next 5-10 years

15:51 Democratizing access to UK Biobank data for global researchers

17:15 Open access approach fosters creativity and peer review

19:05 Practical value of polygenic risk scores in healthcare

22:05 Participant trust in sharing data for good science

23:46 COVID-19 study: Rapid data collection and involvement of family members

29:15 Discussion of a potential UK Biobank 2.0

31:38 Future focus on omics assays and health outcome phenotyping

33:12 Phenotyping health outcomes using advanced techniques

34:42 Closing Remarks