This project is facilitating population health and multi-omics research by building an open access biospecimen collection linked to health and lifestyle data from the 45 and Up Study.
This grant will enable the collection of 750 biospecimens (blood samples) from 45 and Up Study participants. Specimens will be available to researchers for omics analyses with all data returned to the Study for new linkages and reuse by other researchers.
What is the issue for NSW?
The 45 and Up Study is building a collection of 50,000 biospecimens which is the critical number required for population health research. The proposed collection, will support future population multi-omics research, including research into cognitive decline and chronic conditions in diverse communities.
What does the research aim to do and how?
The 45 and Up Study has over 250,000 participants and is one of the largest ongoing studies of health and ageing in the world.
The study links the biospecimens funded by this grant to the existing 45 and up study data study including, to health, lifestyle and administrative data. These data linked biospecimens will support a range of health and medical research including causes of cancer, dementia, heart, respiratory, liver and kidney diseases.
Omics research will support better health and wellbeing by:
1. Better understanding disease processes
2. Identifying new biomarkers that predict disease progression or response to treatment
3. Identifying at-risk individuals, who may be missed by current screening
4. Completing the profile of risk factors both genetic, lifestyle and social
5. Informing people of future disease risk (calculate genetic risk scores) which are increasingly being used in medicine
6. Identifying individuals who will benefit from disease-deferring therapies