2. • A BioResource is a biobank of biological and
phenotypes that can be used for scientific and
medical research purposes.
• It is also a bank of volunteers who can be
recruited to clinical trials and other studies on
the basis of clinical and biological data, such
as genotype or biomarkers.
• Our BioResource is focused on mental and
neurological health.

3. What are our aims?
• Our aim is to collect this information from up
to 50,000 volunteers by 2017.
• We hope that this huge library of information
will improve our understanding of different
psychiatric and neurological illnesses.
• We hope that this large number re-
contactable volunteers will enable future
research that will help develop innovative
treatments more quickly.

4. Why are we doing this?
• Recruiting volunteers for studies can be costly
and time-consuming....

5. Why are we doing this?
• Having a library of information that is ready
and waiting in the BioResource means that
valuable research can start as soon as studies
have been approved, saving time and money.

6. Who are we?
• Principal Investigator– Dr Gerome Breen
• Co-ordinator/Manager – Cerisse Gunasinghe
• The recruitment team – Ade, Alvin, Bonnie, Dami,
Roshan.
• Working in collaboration with SLaM Pharmacy
CAG
• The lab team – Led by Charles Curtis
• We are a multi-disciplinary team and come from
different backgrounds, including nursing,
psychology and occupational therapy.

7. Who are we working with?
• We are working with:
The Maudsley in-patient and out-patient
clinics; The Centre for Neuroimaging Sciences;
Guys and St Thomas’; Lambeth and Lewisham
CMHTs; Southwark IAPT; Charlotte’s Helix;
Epilepsy and MND clinics at Kings College
Hospital; local and National CAMHs.
• SELCoH – Community volunteer database

8. Who are our volunteers?
• Anyone registered with the NHS can volunteer to
take part!
• We hope to get a real variety of different service-
user volunteers with a range of diagnoses, as well
as volunteers from the general population.
• So far we have recruited volunteers with ADHD,
MND, Schizophrenia, Psychosis, Depression,
Eating Disorders, Chronic Fatigue, Epilepsy,
Dementia, Bi-Polar Disorder, Anxiety Disorders....

9. How does it work?
• The BioResource Team provides the link
between the volunteer, the BioResource
database, the lab, and the research teams.

10. How will the BioResource be used?
• Two ways:
• Studies can apply to use some of the
anonymised biological and clinical
information.
• This information would be filtered by the
BioResource team, then handed over.
• This can be done because of the nature of our
HTA license and ethical approval to grant use
of info/samples for omics and similar studies.

11. How will it be used?
• Alternatively, studies can request clinical and
biological information AND request the
volunteers’ involvement in a follow-up study.
• Volunteers are selected based on their clinical
and biological information, and whether they
consented to be approached about future
research.
• They are then contacted by the BioResource team
to see whether they would like to take part in the
research project.

12. How will it help?
• The BioResource is already making a difference.
• Researchers are currently analysing our
volunteers’ blood samples to help them
understand more about Parkinson’s Disease,
Dementia, Motor Neurone Disease,
Schizophrenia and Psychosis.
• These are just some of the ways the BioResource
will help to support research for many years to
come.