Public and staff answer call for medical research volunteers

Tuesday 24 February 2015


Professor Tim Spector and colleagues at the BioResource open event at St Thomas’ Hospital

More than 130 people gave blood samples at an open event hosted by the BioResource at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College London (KCL) on Thursday 19 February at St Thomas’ Hospital.

And a further 60 people completed registration forms so they can be contacted for a blood sample to be collected at a later date.

The open event was a chance to find out what’s involved when you volunteer for medical research – and even sign up to join the BioResource on the day.

The NHS – via the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) – is building a national BioResource.

It will bring together thousands of volunteers, both with and without health problems, who are willing to be approached to participate in research investigating links between genes and disease – to improve therapeutic treatments.

The BioResource of the Biomedical Research Centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and KCL is part of this national initiative to help in the fight against common and rare diseases.

Volunteers are asked to donate a small sample of blood or saliva and give their permission to be contacted in the future about medical research studies – although there is no obligation to participate in any of these studies.  

Professor Tim Spector is Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at KCL and lead of the BioResource at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and KCL.

He says: “It was amazing to see the enthusiasm of the public and staff for the BioResource initiative and their willingness to donate a blood sample to support scientific research.”

Caterina Nardella, co-ordinator of the BioResource at Guy’s and St Thomas’ and KCL, adds: “Although the outcome of our open event was excellent, we hope even more members of the public and staff will decide to support biomedical research and join our BioResource.”

See www.bioresource.nihr.ac.uk for more information.

Last updated: March 2022

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