People encouraged to participate in Qatar Biobank research

Qatari citizens urged to participate in the research by Qatar Biobank.

Qatar Biobank, a member of Qatar Foundation, has encouraged qualified individuals to participate in its effort to improve the health of the local population via personalised medicine.

Qatar Biobank facilitates crucial health research by collecting biological samples as well as health and lifestyle data from a large percentage of Qatar's population. Its cohort project, a population-based long-term study, aims to collect high-quality biological samples and annotated data from Qataris and long-term residents who have resided in the country for at least 15 years in order to promote medical research. “You can download Qatar BioBank application, enter the data required for registration, and choose an available date for the first appointment date,” Qatar Biobank said in a tweet. 

After five years have passed since the first visit, individuals are contacted again for a follow-up research.

Qatar Biobank said, “We would like to invite all the participants at Qatar Biobank to book their 5-years follow-up visit. All you need to do is to contact us at: 44541177 and donate 3 hours to visit Qatar Biobank for a better healthier future.” Everyone who participates will provide informed permission for their biological samples and information to be utilised in research initiatives that will aid translational medicine and, ultimately, benefit all patients.

To begin, students will participate in a three-hour assessment. They will next be subjected to medical testing and provide samples of their blood, urine, and saliva.

By March 2022, about 30,000 individuals will have registered for the Qatar Biobank.

During his follow-up visit, Fahad Hassan Al Qahtani said, “I thank Qatar Biobank for conducting tests which will benefit future generations. I visited Biobank in 2017, and this is my second visit. A comparison was made between the previous results and the new results, and I was advised by the specialist doctor to do sports and maintain healthy eating to avoid any chronic diseases in the future.”

Qatar Genome analyses omics data, collaborates with local and international researchers, and makes it simpler for the healthcare system to interact with Qatar Genome using samples and data acquired by Qatar Biobank.

According to Qatar Biobank, researchers from Qatar University's Department of Nutrition at the College of Health Sciences conducted a study using data from 2,536 Qatari people aged 20 to 79. The researchers arrived to the conclusion that the form of a person's body may predict whether or not they would get diabetes.