Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter
Qatar Biobank, a member of Qatar Foundation, aims to recruit more than 60,000 participants by 2019, said a top official yesterday.
Dr Hadi Abderrahim, managing director of Qatar Biobank, said that Qatar Biobank is a large-scale, long-term medical research initiative for the population of Qatar and as such over the next few years, “we aim to recruit more than 60,000 Qatari nationals and long-term residents who have lived in Qatar for more than 15 years and aged above 18 years of both genders.”
Dr Abderrahim added: “Qatar Biobank will contribute to improve healthcare in Qatar and will lead to personalised healthcare. The data collected can help in developing researches on risk factors for the entire population as well as providing follow-up for those factors.”
Working with the Supreme Council of Health, Hamad Medical Corporation and Imperial College London, Qatar Biobank supports Qatar Foundation’s mission to enhance national innovation and technology through medical research regarding prevalent health issues in Qatar.
Those wishing to contribute to Qatar Biobank, can fill in application form available on the website of the organisation. Participants have to complete a questionnaire and sign a consent form agreeing to allow the tracking and assessment of their medical history. This contribution involves attending an assessment session at the Qatar Biobank clinic that lasts about three hours.
The assessment session comprises collection of a series of measurements including an individual’s height, weight, blood pressure measure, blood, urine and saliva samples. The health information, obtained from medical records, DNA, lifestyle, and environmental exposures, has the potential to provide further insights into the management and prevention of debilitating diseases common in Qatar.
Qatar Biobank will also help chart a roadmap for future treatment through personalised medicine by spearheading the Qatar Genome Project, announced last year by HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser Al Missned, chairperson of Qatar Foundation. Genomics, a discipline in genetics that analyses the structure and function of genomes, the complete set of DNA within a single cell of an organism, is a rapidly emerging medical discipline.
With 17% of Qatar’s adult population suffering from type 2 diabetes, it is expected that the knowledge and information collected by Qatar Biobank, will enable scientists to gain unique insights into the causes of these diseases, and tailor treatments matching individual genome coding within the next few years.
Dr Hadi Abderrahim, managing director, Qatar Biobank.
