Ethnically Diverse Biobanks as a Foundation for Equitable Precision Healthcare
Institution: Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London
Corresponding Researcher: Claude Chelala
Publication Link(s): NA
Data Link(s): NA
Keyword(s): precision medicine, ethnicity, sex, diversity, biobanks, UK Biobank, Genomics England
Summary
Precision medicine relies on research data that reflect population diversity, yet ethnic minority groups remain under-represented in many large UK research
resources. We compared UK Biobank, the 100,000 Genomes Project (100k GP) and two biobanks focused on breast cancer and breast pancreatic collections
- Breast Cancer Now Biobank (BCNB) and Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue Bank (PCRFTB) - to assess representation, engagement and research
use.
Large national resources provide scale and statistical power, while disease-focused biobanks offer greater cancer-specific granularity and improved ethnic
diversity, particularly in geographically diverse regions such as North East London. Embedding diversity at the point of sample collection strengthens
inclusive research and equitable precision healthcare.
