Worlds biggest body scan project to aid understanding of why diseases occur

60,000 UK volunteers have signed up to get their brains and bodies scanned in a bid to find new ways of treating and preventing life-threatening diseases such as dementia and cancer.

Volunteers, who are a part of UK Biobank – first launched in 2006, the organisation set out to be the most comprehensive study of the nations health – will have every part of their body examined, including experiencing two sets of highly detailed MRI and bone density images taken several years apart, which could open up huge new possibilities for spotting and preventing illnesses like dementia, cancer and heart disease.

Speaking to the BBC, Chief Scientist Naomi Allen, said: ‘Researchers will be able to look at changes in our organs as we get older that will help to develop biomarkers of disease, perhaps many years before a clinical diagnosis and symptoms.’

All participants of the study have had their entire DNA sequenced. The imaging part of the project – where the study is up to now – began in 2014. Once volunteers have had their scans, all data is gathered and anonymised and there is often no feedback given to those involved.

However, individuals who are a part of the project are unfazed by receiving little recognition. Marian Keeling who is 67 summed up her experienced as: ‘it’s a bit like being a blood donor, you do it for your fellow man.’

Additionally, Mary Wilson, 81 said: ‘It’s going to help future generations and help with the health service. The longer you can stay healthy, the better it is.’

UK Biobank have already made some extraordinary achievements, including having 7,000 peer-reviewed papers published on its findings, nearly a third of those last year showing how its scientific value is increasing over time – displaying the organisation is already starting to help inform medicine.

As well as this, in 2018 experts devised a genetic test to detect people born with an increased risk of coronary heart disease by analysing genomic data from UK Biobank.

Image: CDC