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Approved research

Development of a free and accessible web-based genetic risk comparison tool using UK Biobank data

Principal Investigator: Mr Dimitri Nikogosov
Approved Research ID: 36183
Approval date: February 4th 2019

Lay summary

Atlas Biomed combines DNA technologies with digital health data to inspire people into positive lifestyle change, to lead them to a healthier future. Our research will investigate the genes and genetic variants that influence the risk of common complex disease, with the aim of sharing this knowledge with the scientific community in the form of published research papers and the public through an interactive, web-based tool. The tool will use interactive web techniques (such as sliders and interactive graphs) to present users with personalised, actionable advice based on their genetic risk in relation to their comparison to UK Biobank risk scores, for multiple health and nutrition traits. By communicating the scientific findings of this research with other researchers, and allowing the public to explore their own genetic risks, we hope to contribute to the prevention of serious illnesses through lifestyle change. It is expected that calculation of polygenic risk scores will be completed within 4 months of receiving the genotypic data. The tool will be developed by our software development team over a period of 6 months. Data will be requested for the majority of phenotypes for the full UK Biobank cohort, including activity measures, data from questionnaires, biochemistry and physical measures. We do not require any samples. We will not use UK Biobank's name or suggest that this product has been endorsed in any way by UK Biobank (except that the data was used to test the data models).