Taiwan Biobank: A Rich Biomedical Research Database of the Taiwanese Population

Overview

Journal Cell Genom

Date 2023 Feb 13

PMID 36776991

Authors

Yen-Chen Anne Feng

Chia-Yen Chen

Tzu-Ting Chen

Po-Hsiu Kuo

Yi-Hsiang Hsu

Hwai-I Yang

Wei J Chen

Ming-Wei Su

Hou-Wei Chu

Chen-Yang Shen

Tian Ge

Hailiang Huang

Yen-Feng Lin

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The Taiwan Biobank (TWB) is an ongoing prospective study of >150,000 individuals aged 20-70 in Taiwan. A comprehensive list of phenotypes was collected for each consented participant at recruitment and follow-up visits through structured interviews and physical measurements. Biomarkers and genetic data were generated from blood and urine samples. We present here an overview of TWB's genetic data quality, population structure, and familial relationship, which consists of predominantly Han Chinese ancestry, and highlight its important attributes and genetic findings thus far. A linkage to Taiwan's National Health Insurance database of >25 years and other registries is underway to enrich the phenotypic spectrum and enable deep and longitudinal genetic investigations. TWB provides one of the largest biobank resources for biomedical and public health research in East Asia that will contribute to our understanding of the genetic basis of health and disease in global populations through collaborative studies with other biobanks.

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