REUTERS NEWS-LONDON-UK scientest launch big genetic database project

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The UK Biobank, the world's biggest genetic database, will hold

millions of samples in a robotically controlled facility near

Manchester, England.The wealth of data that will be collected from

men and women volunteers aged 45-69 will help scientists determine

the genetic basis of diseases and why some people develop cancer,

heart disease, diabetes, asthma or Alzheimer's and others

don't. " Nothing like this has been attempted before in such fine

detail on such a vast scale, " said Professor Rory , chief

executive of the Biobank. " We will get very reliable information about

the causes of disease, " he told a news conference.The 61 million

pound Biobank will be funded by the Wellcome Trust, the world's

largest medical research charity, the British government and other

sources.Some researchers have expressed concerns about the design and

size of the project, which has been described as the world's biggest

medical experiment, but said it has been carefully planned

for several years.Scientists will soon begin collecting blood and

urine samples, as well as data on height, weight, body fat and

respiratory function from the first volunteers.Their health will be

monitored over future decades to untangle the interaction of how

genetics, lifestyle and environmental factors cause

disease.Scientists believe the project could improve prevention,

diagnosis and treatment of diseases and help to explain why people

react differently to medications. " Biobank is producing a resource

that will be available to scientists from around the world. The

scientists will not know about individuals. They will only be able to

look at the resource in an anonymous way, " said , who is a

professor of medicine and epidemiology at the University of

Oxford.Professor Mark Walport, director of the Wellcome Trust, said

advances in informatics and the mapping of the human genome in 2000

have made the project possible.Data from the Biobank, which will

contain about 10 million biological samples, will be available to

scientists who can submit an application to use it for their

research.Professor Nigel Mathers, of the Royal College of General

Practitioners, described Biobank as one of the most important

scientific endeavors of the 21st century. " It will build on our

existing knowledge of epidemiology and initiatives such as the Human

Genome Project to create a database of information and samples, " he

said in a

statement.