About UK Biobank

UK Biobank has been set up by the government through the Department of Health, Medical Research Council, Scottish Executive and the Wellcome Trust medical charity. It is also supported by other charities such as the British Heart Foundation and Cancer Research UK as well as the National Health Service.

Overall responsibility for the direction, management and control of UK Biobank Limited lies with a Board of Directors. The board receives advice from a science committee and an ethics and governance council.

UK Biobank is a non-profit charitable company set up to act as the legal owner and guardian of the database and sample collection. The charity’s role is to protect this valuable collection so that scientists can conduct a wide range of medical research in the future.

UK Biobank is a collaboration involving medical researchers from more than 20 UK Universities who have developed the study design. These plans have been reviewed by an independent group of international scientists and approved by the Northwest Multicentre Research Ethics Committee (MREC).