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Biobank timeline
- September 2006
- Recruitment to UK Biobank scheduled to begin (four years later than originally
planned). Recruitment of all 500,000 participants is expected to take 5 years.
- June/July 2006
- UK Biobank's funders plan another peer review of its scientific protocol,
with a panel of national and international scientific experts.
- March 2006
- UK Biobank is launched and pilot recruitment begines.
- July 2005
- Biobank UK have published a briefing note aimed at providing an overview
of the project's most recent achievements and looking forward to the forthcoming
months.
- 20 May 2005
- As a result of a Freedom of Information request by GeneWatch UK, the Medical
Research Council finally publishes the scientific peer reviewers' comments
made in 2002.
- 28 Feb 2005
- Phase 1 pilot studies start to test the process of recruiting participants
and taking measurements (such as blood pressure) and questionnaires.
- 24 Feb 2005
- Draft Intellectual Property (IP) and Access policy published.
- July 2004
- Sample storage and processing report published for comment.
- May 2004
- Publication of the Ethics and Governance Framework (EGF) consultation responses,
with a brief response from the funders.
- April 2004
- Briefing note (summarising the project) published. The project now has
£61.5 million in funding.
- Jan 2004
- Board of Directors appointed.
- Dec 2003
- UK Biobank established as a charitable company.
- 10 Oct 2003
- The Interim Advisory Group publish a background document on the Ethics
and Governance Framework.
- 24 Sept 2003
- Launch of the Ethics and Governance Framework for a one month consultation
period.
- July 2003
- UK Biobank's Science Committee holds its first meeting.
- June 2003
- Government response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's
report on the MRC.
- May 2003
- Two stakeholder workshops on proposals for the Ethical and Governance Framework
(EGF) and interviews with politicians.
- 15 May - 12 June 2003
- Consultation on proposals for the EGF with a panel of lay people.
- 7 May 2003
- University of Manchester becomes the co-ordinating centre for UK Biobank.
- 4 April 2003
- UK Biobank consultation workshop with the Association of the British Pharmaceutical
Industry (ABPI).
- 24 Mar 2003
- The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee report on the MRC
is published.
- Feb to July 2003
- Interim Advisory Group on Ethics and Governance meets to draft UK Biobank's
Ethical and Governance Framework (EGF). The process is informed by a number
of consultations
- 7 April 2003
- The Parliamentary and Scientific Committee (a joint committee of the Lords
and Commons) hold an informal debate on the project.
- 31 Mar 2003
- UK Biobank's CEO is appointed.
- Feb 2003
- Consultation with general practice nurses and research nurses, funded by
the MRC and Wellcome Trust.
- 4 Dec 2002
- Sir George Radda, Chief Executive of the MRC, cross-examined by the House
of Commons Science and Technology Committee. Issues include UK Biobank.
- 3 July 2002
- House of Commons adjournment debate on UK Biobank. Issues raised by the
Chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee receive a response
from a Health Minister.
- 29 April 2002
- UK Biobank's funding approval is announced. £45 million in total is allocated
by the Wellcome Trust, MRC and Department of Health (DoH).
- 25 April 2002
- UK Biobank ethics workshop.
- Feb 2002
- UK Biobank's scientific protocol is published.
- Jan 2002
- MRC/Wellcome focus group research.
- July 2001
- The Government responds to the House of Lords report.
- 17 April 2001
- Protocol development workshop held to get input from scientists.
- 22 Nov 2000
- As a result of the MRC's bid to the Government's Spending Review 2000,
£20 million of MRC funding is earmarked for the UK Population Biomedical Collection.
- October 2000
- Consultation with primary healthcare professionals funded by the Wellcome
Trust and MRC.
- 20 July 2000 to 20 March 2001
- The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee conducts and enquiry
into human genetic databases, which includes evidence regarding the “UK Population
Biomedical Collection”.
- March to April 2000
- The Wellcome Trust and MRC fund a study on public attitudes to the sample
collection and database.
- March 2000
- The expert panel recommends two population cohort studies: 500,000 adults
and 20,000-50,000 newborn babies. The birth cohort is dropped as lower priority
(Barbour, 2003).
- 7 Dec 1999
- The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee first discusses proposals
for a “possible NHS-wide genetic database” and for the UK Population Biomedical
Collection.
- 5 Nov 1999
- The Wellcome Trust holds a workshop on the collection of human biological
samples.
-
Martin, P, Kaye, J (1999). The use of biological sample collections and
personal medical information in human genetics research. (The Wellcome
Trust, London).
-
Spallone, P., Wilkie, T. (1999) Report on the workshop on human biological
sample collections, 5 Nov 1999, The Wellcome Trust, London.
- Aug 1999 to Jan 1999
- An expert working group chaired by Prof Tom Meade develops proposals.
- June 1999
- The Wellcome Trust and Medical Research Council (MRC) commit funds “in
principle” to the UK Population Biomedical Collection (later to become UK
Biobank).
- May 1999
- Wellcome Trust workshop on establishing UK biomedical sample collection
(Barbour, 2003).
- April 1999
- The pharmaceutical company SmithKline Beecham (now GlaxoSmithKline) proposes
a public-private partnership to establish a population biobank, using the
National Health Service as a research resource.
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