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The Biggest Disease Experiment

The world biggest medical experiment is starting soon, by collecting samples of DNA from 500,000 British volunteers in order to isolate the genetic basis of serious diseases such as cancer. The experiment will take around four years, during which volunteers between the age of 40 and 69 will give blood and urine samples, which will help the scientists involved with the project to unravel the genetic foundations of common diseases, including heart disease, diabetes, dementia, joint problems and cancer.

The principal investigator and professor Rory Collins said in a statement: "For decades to come, the U.K. Biobank resource should provide researchers around the world with vital insights into some of the most distressing diseases of middle and old age."

Experts are all the time trying to understand how human genes interact with lifestyle and environment, in order to determine why some people become sick and others do not. Scientists believe the new project would improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of killer diseases and help to explain why certain people react differently to medications.