Biobanks for Health. The Norwegian Network of Human Research Biobanks and Health studies

We propose to set up a human biobank platform to serve funcional genomic research on a national level by building on existing human biobanks and population-based health studies in Norway. The central components of BIOHEALTH-NORWAY are: 1. CONOR – a cohort of 200 000 subjects including blood samples and standardised health and exposure data. 2. The Norwegian Mother and Child Cohort Study (MOBA) – a cohort of 100 000 pregnant women, 100 000 children and 70 000 fathers including biological samples and standardised health and exposure data. The total study population will be close to 0.5 million subjects, with biological samples and standardised information from questionnaires and registries, using a prospective, longitudinal design. Together with the proposed genealogical database, high- throughput genotyping, health registries and clinical and pathological-anatomical biobanks that provide end-points, an outstanding resource will be available for researchers. By utilizing high-throughput genotyping, microarray analysis of RNA and proteins as well as measures of environmental exposures in biological samples, many specific research questions can be resolved. BIOHEALTH will provide technology support for other biobanks and will interact with other platforms such as bioinformatics, SNP genotyping and microarrays.