Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd. has established a new collaboration with UK Biobank to create the world’s first comprehensive, large-scale epigenetic dataset. The project will utilize Oxford Nanopore’s DNA/RNA sequencing technology to map the epigenome of 50,000 blood samples from UK Biobank to unlock insights into disease mechanisms, with the aim of improving patient outcomes.

Researchers from the U.K. have analyzed whole-genome sequencing data from 7,276 cases and 236,741 controls in the UK Biobank to perform gene-level and a variant-level exome-wide association study analysis to identify variants related to retinal detachment.

Investigators at the University of Edinburgh have identified a genomic location linked to sensitivity to gabapentin in individuals with idiopathic chronic pelvic pain.

After five years and 350,000 hours of DNA sequencing, the UK Biobank has opened up access Nov. 30 to the whole genome sequences of half a million people who volunteered to give samples 15 years ago.

An analysis of brain scans of participants in the UK Biobank has shown there are significant differences between the condition of the brain before and after mild COVID-19 infection. These included a reduction in overall brain size, reduction in grey matter thickness in the orbitofrontal cortex and hippocampal gyrus, and changes in markers of tissue damage in regions functionally connected to the primary olfactory cortex. Infected participants also showed, on average, a larger cognitive decline than participants who had not contracted COVID-19.

While there is known to be an association between inflammation and depression, it is not known if there is cause and effect. Now, the power of the UK Biobank has been brought to bear to show that when all genetic, health and environmental factors are accounted for, people with depression have higher levels of inflammation in their bodies than controls.

LONDON – Computational biology specialist Precisionlife Ltd. has used UK Biobank data to find sepsis risk genes that are present specifically in patients who suffer severe COVID-19 infections and shown that 13 of those genes are known druggable targets.

LONDON – While large-scale biobanks that link genomics to longitudinal health records of diagnosis, treatment and outcomes promise to revolutionize the understanding of the genetics of complex disease, the detailed statistical analysis of those high-dimensional data is still very much in its infancy.