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NIHR BioResource

Introducing the NIHR BioResource 

Bringing people together and leading research

We are at the heart of efforts to improve healthcare and the long-term prevention and treatment of disease. The NIHR BioResource is committed to bringing together researchers and willing volunteers to contribute to leading research that will benefit everyone. 

Our Mission: We seek to facilitate human health research and its transformation into medical practice.

We achieve this by:

  • Recruiting and engaging with active participants, who volunteer to work with the BioResource and our partners
  • Collaborating with leading research groups in academia, NHS and industry to rapidly translate the findings in the lab into benefits for the clinic
  • Developing effective and efficient systems to provide rapid, consistent and valuable integrated access to samples, data and resources to tackle healthcare challenges
  • Building effective, added-value partnerships with health research groups, organisations, companies and charities that maximise the value of our research, systems and resources for healthcare improvement.

Our headquaters are based in Cambridge along with our Cambridge BioResource Centre, which is one of our 13 centres around England.

What is the NIHR BioResource Cambridge Centre?

The NIHR BioResource Centre Cambridge is a panel of over 17,000 volunteers, both with and without health conditions, who are willing to be approached to participate in research studies investigating the links between genes, the environment, health and disease enabling scientific discoveries as well as facilitating translational medicine for the benefit of patients.

Volunteers who join the NIHR BioResource Centre Cambridge donate their DNA via a blood or saliva sample which is used together with other information, such as gender, ethnicity, lifestyle and health information to match them to specific research studies. Volunteers are free to choose which studies they would like to take part in, allowing the NIHR BioResource Centre Cambridge to provide researchers with groups of participants, tailor-made to the research study.

You too can become one of our volunteers and when you join you will be given the opportunity to take part in both local and national studies. Here at the BioResource Centre Cambridge, we are lucky enough to have our own clinic on the Biomedical campus, a popular area with our members as it is friendly and welcoming. We have our own dedicated team of nurses that work on both local and national studies. If you would like to join us please email cbr@bioresource.nihr.ac.uk.

Don't live near Cambridge? Find out where the other centres are located.