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TwinsUK
Population Size
15,000
People
Years
1992
Associated BioSamples
Core biopsy
DNA
...see more
Geographic coverage
United Kingdom
Lead time
Not applicable
Summary
Documentation
set up in 1992, is a major volunteer-based genomic epidemiology resource with longitudinal deep genomic and phenomics data from over 15,000 adult twins (18+) from across the UK who are highly engaged and recallable. The cohort is predominantly female (80%) for historical reasons. It is one of the most deeply characterised adult twin cohort in the world, providing a rich platform for scientists to research health and ageing longitudinally. There are over 700,000 biological samples stored and data collected on twins with repeat measures at multiple timepoints. Extremely large datasets (billions of data points) have been generated for each TwinsUK participant over 30 years, including phenotypes from questionnaires, multiple clinical visits, and record linkage, and genetic and ‘omic data from biological samples. TwinsUK ensures derived datasets from raw data are returned by collaborators to enhance the resource. TwinsUK also holds a wide range of laboratory samples, including plasma, serum, DNA, faecal microbiome and tissue (skin, fat, colonic biopsies) within HTA-regulated facilities at King's College London.
More recently, postal and at-home collection strategies have allowed sample collections from frail twins, our whole cohort for COVID-19 studies, and for new twin recruits. The cohort is recallable either on a four-year longitudinal sweep visit or, based on diagnosis or genotype.
More than 1,000 data access collaborations and 250,000 samples have been shared with external researchers, resulting in over 800 publications since 2012.
TwinsUK is now working to link to twins’ official health, education and environmental records for health research purposes, which will further enhance the resource, education and environmental records for health research purposes, which will further enhance the resource.
Keywords
Observations
Observed Node | Disambiguating Description | Measured Value | Measured Property | Observation Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Persons | Volunteer adults females and males (predominantly females) living in UK at time of recruitment. The dataset includes single twins, twin pairs and triplets (identical and non-identical). | 15000 | Count | 31 Dec 2021 |
Provenance
Details
08/10/2024
Coverage
01/01/1992
Accessibility
Data Access Request
To access access the TwinsUK data or if you are interested in proposing a collaboration with us, please first read through the Data Access Policy Document which will give you the necessary background information.
You will then need to complete a “Data Access Proposal Form” and email the completed form to the Data Access Manager Victoria Vazquez for consideration by the Department of Twin Research Executive Committee (TREC). We encourage collaboration either on the analysis of these phenotypes or on novel phenotypes.
The proposal should specify the data and/or samples required clearly. Individual variables need to be listed with an appropriate justification describing the aims/hypothesis of the project for which the data is requested.
No attempt should be made to link or combine the data provided under this agreement to other information or archived data available for the data sets provided, even if access to that data has been formally granted to you, or it is freely available without restriction, unless specific permission to do so has been received from the TwinsUK TREC.
Please be aware that our governance does not allow extensive, untargeted AI data requests and therefore we will not be able to support these applications.
There may be costs associated for your request to be fulfilled.