Research

You may receive a text message from Dr Tom Holyoake regarding the Discover Me Study. This is a genuine study and the below tells you some more about it.

Discover Me is a nationwide research study looking at how health and genetic information can allow us to better understand disease. By joining Discover Me United Kingdom you can get insights into your health and genetic ancestry.

You can take part if you are aged 18 or over, able to consent for yourself, and your GP practice or online patient service provider is participating in the study.

Why is this study important?
By collecting health and genetic information on thousands of people, Discover Me aims to help us find out why diseases may affect some people more than others. This could help transform healthcare.

As part of Discover Me, you can learn more about your own health and ancestry, supporting you and your GP to make better decisions about your health and care.

TAKING PART
I am generally healthy. Why should I take part? It is important that people at all levels of health join the study, as this helps our understanding of health and disease. We would like you to take part whether you are in good health or have health problems.

What will I have to do as part of this study?

As part of this study, you would:
• Enrol, which includes providing some details about yourself through our secure online portal.
• Provide a saliva or mouth swab sample using our straightforward postal collection kit.
• Allow information from your health and care records and other sources to be collected and used alongside your sample.
• Agree to be contacted in the future by the research team about this study and other new research studies.
• Choose whether to receive information on your genetic ancestry from your sample and some of your health information from your health and care records.

AFTER ENROLMENT
Do I have to do anything more after I enrol into the study?
Once the enrolment process is complete, we will confirm that you have enrolled, and provide you with a copy of your consent form. If you were invited to enrol into Discover Me by your GP practice, we will also inform your GP practice that you are taking part in the Discover Me study. Alternatively, if you were invited to enrol into Discover Me by an online patient service provider or by another research study you are already taking part in, we will inform the respective parties of your participation in the Discover Me study.

We will then send you a straightforward sample collection kit so that you can provide a saliva or mouth swab sample and post this back to us. We may send you reminders to complete sample collection. We will send you confirmation once we have received your sample.

As part of this study, you can choose to receive information about:

• Your genetic ancestry from your saliva or mouth swab sample, and
• Some of your health information from your health and care records.
You will be able to view this information in a secure online participant portal. We will notify you when your ancestry and health information are available to view on the participant portal, if you have chosen to receive these. Please note, these will only be made available to you if we are able to verify your identity and eligibility against your health record.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
What do you do once I have enrolled into the study?
Once you have enrolled in the Discover Me study, we will check the information you have provided about yourself to ensure you can take part. If we are unable to check your identity or eligibility against your health record we will ask you to review and update your details. Please note that if we are unable to verify your identity or you are found to be ineligible you will not be able to continue participating in the study and it will not be possible to provide you with your ancestry results or health information.

We will produce genetic information from the saliva or mouth swab sample that you provide, and follow your health over time by collecting information about you from your health and care records and other sources. We will use your genetic and health information, together with information from thousands of others, to improve our understanding of many different diseases and to identify ways to help GP practices improve care.

What sort of information will you collect about me?
For many years, we will follow the health of everyone who has joined the Discover Me study. To do this, we will collect information about you for research from your health and care records (for example, from your GP records, hospital records and disease registries). We may also add other information, such as from the census, or on the weather or pollution in your area, which may also affect health. This information may be collected at multiple points after you consent to take part in the study, so we can update the information we hold on you over time.

How will you use my saliva or mouth swab sample?
The DNA (genetic material) will be extracted from your sample and placed into long-term secure storage. We will read your DNA to produce genetic information, and will use this information to see how genetic differences (inherited differences between families because of ancestry) may help explain how some diseases are caused and how they progress. If you choose, we will also use your DNA to provide you with information on your ancestry

Should you wish to know any further information please visit the Discover Me Website
https://www.discovermestudy.com/dmuk