UK Biobank opens its data vaults to researchers

After more than a decade of planning and preparation, UK Biobank is ready for its first customers. From accumulated capital now amounting to 20 terabytes of stored data it will be dispensing anonymised biomedical information on its 500 000 volunteers to any researcher anywhere who can use it to advance the understanding of human health and disease. Recruited over a period of four years, each Biobank participant has undergone measurements of height, weight, blood pressure, body fat and much else, supplied details of medical history and lifestyle, and had tests of sight, hearing, and fitness. They have …