Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announced the UK Biobank Pharma Proteomics Project (UKB-PPP) has selected its Olink® Explore Platform to support the world's largest human proteomics study of its kind. UKB-PPP aims to analyze more than 5,400 proteins from 600,000 samples to fuel the discovery of new protein biomarkers that can be used to predict, diagnose and treat diseases. Advancement of the Olink Explore Platform, which is designed to enable deep analysis of the thousands of proteins in the human body, provides researchers with the ability to study the role they play in many types of diseases.
Published studies in this emerging field, known as population proteomics, have demonstrated the potential protein signatures have to help advance the future of precision medicine. UKB-PPP is a collaboration between UK Biobank and 14 leading biopharmaceutical companies, with the goal to make available important information on the human proteome to UK Biobank-approved researchers across the world. In turn, the data can be used to validate and identify new drug targets, advance diagnostics, and help accelerate targeted drug discovery to support the development of more effective and safer medications.
UKB-PPP builds on the findings released in 2023 from the pilot project, which also leveraged the Olink Explore platform to analyze more than 54,000 samples from UK Biobank. The research was first published in Nature in October 2023 and has already been cited more than 400 times, laying the foundation for scientists to better understand how and why diseases develop and to advance targeted treatments. One study, published inNature Communications, leveraged data from the pilot study to identify protein risk factors for certain cancers up to seven years in advance of diagnosis.
UKB- PPP is scheduled to begin in First Quarter 2025, with plans to make the proteomic data available to UK Biobank- approved researchers in staggered releases starting in 2026, followed by the full dataset in 2027. UKB-PPP will initially analyze more than 5,400 protein from 300,000 samples and seek supplemental funding to analyze an additional 300,000 samples, bringing the total for the project to 600,000 samples. Acquired by Thermo Fisher in July 2024, the Olink proteomics solution that empowers researchers to measure more than 5,400 proteins with high specificity, speed, and the flexibility to study complex biological processes.