The innovative programme connects scientists and healthcare researchers to genetic and lifestyle information from people with and without health conditions that can be used for future research.
The University of Sheffield has partnered with the Sheffield National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre, hosted by Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is one of 18 centres across the country to join the national repository recruitment programme.
This repository recruitment programme has so far collected over 250,000 biological samples across the country and The Sheffield centre is set to recruit 800 people a year to the vital healthcare repository.
Joining the NIHR BioResource involves participants donating a blood or saliva sample and completing a health and lifestyle questionnaire. These samples are then stored in a central bioresource bank alongside linked clinical and demographic information.
The NIHR BioResource Bank is an important collaboration for both researchers and the public to understand the causes and pathways of disease
Once stored, the donated DNA is available to researchers for relevant studies without them having to seek out samples. This streamlines vital health and care research and helps to develop new treatments, cures and health programmes.
Participants may also be identified as being of interest for other research studies, further providing a vital bank of information that speeds up crucial healthcare research.
A recruitment launch day was held by the NIHR Sheffield Biomedical Research Centre at the Royal Hallamshire Hospital’s NIHR Sheffield Clinical Research Facility on Friday 15 December.
Professor Dame Pamela Shaw, Director of the NIHR Sheffield Biomedical Research Centre, who was the first recruit, said: “The NIHR BioResource Bank is an important collaboration for both researchers and the public to understand the causes and pathways of disease. I have dedicated my career to improving the treatment and care of people with long-term health conditions, and am proud to have become the first of hopefully many recruits to the Sheffield BioResource Centre.”
Dr David Black, Medical Director (Development) Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, who also volunteered to be recruited to the NIHR BioResource Bank, said: "The NIHR BioResource Bank helps find treatments, cures and develops health tests and public health programmes for people of all ages, gender and race. I was delighted to come along and support the launch of this important national initiative in Sheffield.
We were really pleased with our first ever BioResource recruitment event, which resulted in 40 recruits to this innovative programme
Dr Black donated his blood and found the process “straightforward” and “the team’s first recruitment day was well organised and professionally run.”
Luke Barron, NIHR Sheffield Biomedical Research Centre Operations Manager, said: “We were really pleased with our first ever BioResource recruitment event, which resulted in 40 recruits to this innovative programme. Our aim is to take recruitment as far and as wide as possible, including to community outreach venues, as the NIHR Bioresource enables researchers to access a large bank of biological information and linked clinical and demographic data at ease. This not only reduces costs and time but speeds up the delivery of vital health and care research.”
The recruitment event was supported by trained nurses and clinical trials assistants from the NIHR Sheffield Clinical Research Facility.