The author of this article has been involved in the development of the UK Biobank, and was instrumental in ensuring that dentistry has been included in the project. He describes what the UK Biobank is, what the project involves and aims to achieve, and how by July 2010 some 500,000 UK citizens aged from 40–69 years had been recruited. He then details the events that led to the inclusion of dentistry in the project, the key role that stored saliva samples will have, and how the project will link to data stored by the Dental Practice Board and now the National Health Service Business Services Authority. The article ends with a brief look into the future of the project.
UK Biobank [Internet].Oxford: UK Biobank Ltd; 2007 [updated 2010 Oct 11]. Accessed (2010 Jul 25) at: www.ukbiobank.ac.uk
2.
GarrodA.Cited in Weatherall DJ. The Role of Nature and Nurture in Common Diseases: Garrod's Legacy. The Harveian Oration of 1992. London: The Royal College of Physicians; 1992.
3.
MayrE.What makes Biology Unique?New York: Cambridge University Press; 2004.
4.
BarnesB, DupréJ.Genomes and What to Make of Them. Chicago: Chicago University Press; 2010.
5.
ALSPAC (Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents And Children) [Internet].Bristol: University of Bristol; 2002–2010 [updated 2010 Jun 9]. Accessed (2010 Jul 2) at: www.alspac.bristol.ac.uk
6.
Whitehall II (Prospective Cohort) Study of British Civil Servants [Internet].London: University College London; 1999–2009. Accessed (2010 Jul 30) via: www.ucl.ac.uk/epidemiology/researchgroups
7.
Salivaomics Knowledge Base (SKB) [Internet].Los Angeles: The Wong Lab, UCLA School of Dentistry, Dental Research Institute; 2010. Accessed (2010 Jul 28) at: www.skb.ucla.edu
8.
DennyP, HagenFK, HardtM, LiaoL, YanW, ArellannoM, . The proteomes of human parotid and submandibular/sublingual gland salivas collected as ductal secretions. J Proteome Res.2008;7:1994–2006.
9.
YanW, ApwelerR, BalgleyBM, PinmaneeB, BundyJL, CargileBJ, . Systematic comparison of the human saliva and plasma proteomes. Proteomics Clin Appl.2009;3:116–34.
10.
ParkNJ, LiY, YuT, BrinkmanBMN, WongDT.Characterization of RNA in saliva. Clin Chem.2006;52:988–94.
11.
ChenT, YuW-H, IzardJ, BaranovaOV, LakshmananA, DewhirstFE.The Human Oral Microbiome Database: a web accessible resource for investigating oral microbe taxonomic and genomic information. Database (Oxford). 2010 Jul 6;2010:baq013.
