Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. announced that the UK Biobank Pharma Proteomics Project (UKB-PPP) has selected its Olink® Explore platform to support the world’s largest human proteomics study. The 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. Advances in the Olink Explore platform, designed to enable in-depth analysis of the thousands of proteins found in the human body, offer researchers the opportunity 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 of protein signatures to advance the future of precision medicine. UKB-PPP is a collaboration between UK Biobank and 14 leading biopharmaceutical companies, aiming to make important information about the human proteome available to UK Biobank-approved researchers worldwide. 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 drugs.
The UKB-PPP builds on results published in 2023 as part of the pilot project, which also used the Olink Explore platform to analyze more than 54,000 samples from the 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. A study, published in Nature Communications, used data from the pilot study to identify protein risk factors for certain cancers up to seven years before diagnosis.
The UKB-PPP is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2025, and it is planned to make the proteomics data available to UK Biobank approved researchers in a staggered manner from 2026, followed by making the full data set available in 2027. UKB-PPP will initially analyze more than 5,400 proteins from 300,000 samples and seek additional funding to analyze 300,000 additional samples, bringing the project total to 600,000 samples. Acquired by Thermo Fisher in July 2024, the Olink proteomics solution allows researchers to measure more than 5,400 proteins with high specificity, speed and the flexibility necessary to study complex biological processes.
